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Don’t rely on luck to get home safely. Plan ahead for St. Patrick’s Day — one of the most dangerous holidays on our nation’s roadways — with a safe ride home, Mother’s Against Drunk Driving says.
“After a year of experiencing the pandemic, we know that people may be looking for opportunities to celebrate — and that safety may not be top of mind,” MADD National President Alex Otte said. “It’s so important to arrange for a safe and sober ride home anytime your plans include alcohol.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that from 6 p.m. March 16 to 5:59 a.m. March 18, 2015 to 2019, 280 people died in drunken driving crashes.
Over St. Patrick’s Day 2019, three out of five crashes involved a drunk driver.
And Otte says: “Buzzed driving is drunk driving. Even if you’ve had just one drink, please designate a non-drinking driver, take public transportation or call a taxi or rideshare service.”
At age 13, Otte was hit by a drunk driver and suffered a severe brain injury, broken neck and collarbone, a shattered jaw, a lacerated liver, two shattered femurs and the loss of her right leg below the knee.
MADD Hawaii also reminds the public that it is illegal to drive impaired legal and illegal drugs as well as alcohol.
Marijuana can slow reaction time and ability to make decisions, and that the combination of alcohol and marijuana is greater than either alone, Madd Hawaii Victim Services Specialist Theresa Paulette said.
In 2019, drunk drivers killed a person every 52 minutes, and they injured 300,000 that year, MADD said.
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