Slow down, Bud Light helmet drinker! The Avoid the 38
Orange County DUI Campaign–the anti-drunken driving program partly funded by the California Office of
Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that was out in force during the December holidays and New Year's Eve–will kick in again on Super Bowl Sunday.
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Countywide DUI roving patrols will be held Sunday. Why? Because in 2008
and 2009, more people were killed on Super Bowl Sunday due to
alcohol-involved collisions than any other day during the year,
according to authorities.
“We want to pass our safety
message to everyone who will be drinking this weekend” said Sgt. J. Brittain of
the Orange County Sheriff's Department's Traffic Bureau. “Please make the right
decision and pass your keys to a designated driver before the Super Bowl party
begins. Getting caught driving while impaired will result in costly penalties
including the loss of your driving privileges.”
The campaign includes the following tips for those hosting Super Bowl parties:
* Make sure all of your guests designate their
sober drivers in advance, or help arrange ride-sharing with other sober
drivers.
* Serve lots of food–and include lots of
non-alcoholic beverages at the party.
* Stop serving alcohol at the end of the third
quarter of the game and begin serving coffee and dessert.
* Keep the numbers for local cab companies handy,
and take the keys away from anyone who is thinking of driving while
impaired.
* Remember,
you can be held liable if someone you served alcohol to ends up in an
impaired driving crash.
Here are tips for those attending parties:
* Avoid drinking too much alcohol too fast. Pace
yourself–eat enough food, take breaks, and alternate with non-alcoholic
drinks.
* If you don't have a designated driver, ask a
sober friend for a ride home; call a cab, friend, or family member to come
get you; or stay where you are and sleep it off until you are sober.
* Never let a friend leave your sight if you think
they are about to drive while impaired.
* Always buckle up–it's still your best defense
against other impaired drivers.
* Bet it all on the Saints.
Okay, that last one is made up.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.