It's that time of year when people are preparing for the holidays and the new year, keeping busy rushing around buying gifts -- maybe ordering online from the comfort of their home. The holiday season may not be the same when it comes to shopping but one thing that hasn't quite changed are holiday parties and partaking in alcohol at this time of year.
Although impaired driving is dangerous and prevalent year-round, the winter holiday period is particularly deadly due to an increase of people participating in holiday and year-end celebrations. Driving under the influence of alcohol or marijuana is dangerous to drivers, passengers and everyone on the road.
That's why the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA) supports states in active high-visibility enforcement leading up to and around the winter holidays. The Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign seeks to educate drivers on the dangers of alcohol- and drug-impaired driving as well as heighten awareness of increased enforcement. Expect to see more law enforcement on the road in New Jersey as part of this campaign, expanding their efforts with zero tolerance for impaired driving, with the goal to save lives.
Drinking and driving can cause you to lose your driver’s license and your vehicle. If you need your vehicle to get to your job, you'll be looking at missed time and lost wages, which could all result in potentially losing your job. That's not something you want when you consider that the average DUI costs $10,000 in attorney’s fees, fines, court costs, and higher insurance rates. Never mind that if you’re caught drinking and driving, you can face jail time and that arrest will go down on your permanent record. NHTSA estimates that the financial impact from impaired-driving crashes in which alcohol was the cause resulted in $57 billion in economic costs.
Your safest bet is always drive 100 percent sober, even one alcoholic beverage could be one too many. Of course, there may be instances where that doesn't happen. If that's the case, the next best thing is to simply plan ahead. Designate a sober driver - before you have a drink - to get you home safely. If you put off that decision until after a drink, or two, you might not make the best one.
In today's day and age, you have options to get home safely. All your friends likely have a mobile phone, so hit one of them up to see if you can catch a ride. Otherwise, if transit is not a feasible option, there's always a taxi you can call or using a ridesharing app. It might be more expensive than driving home but getting home safely is priceless.
Of course, you can also volunteer to be the designated driver and take your friends home. But remember, take your job seriously: Don't drink. And if you have a friend who's planning to drive after having a few, offer to take them home instead if you're sober.
For more information on impaired driving, visit, www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving.