It’s holiday party season – time to celebrate all of the exciting winter holidays with our friends and loved ones. Our mailboxes are flooded with invitations to parties and dinners and other holiday get-togethers. With these parties come food, fellowship, gifts, and in many cases, festive alcoholic drinks.
In 2008, nearly 12,000 people in the U.S. were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes – and during the periods around Christmas and New Year’s, this number was particularly high, with 316 people killed in alchol-impaired driving crashes. In 2007, 162,493 women were arrested for a DUI, an increase of almost 29% since 1998. You can’t help but wonder if lives could have been saved if people thought twice before getting behind the wheel. With the holidays approaching, it’s important that drivers be reminded about the dangers of buzzed driving. Who knows…it could save a life.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) and the Ad Council are asking everyone to drive smart this holiday season and to pledge not to drive buzzed. To learn more about what you can do to prevent Buzzed Driving follow Buzzed Driving on Twitter and Facebook. You can also visit the Buzzed Driving website where you can sign a pledge to not drive buzzed, play an interactive game which demonstrates the difference between buzzed and drunk, and hear personal stories from people who have driven buzzed.
Join us Tuesday, December 15th from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST for a sobering discussion about #BuzzedDriving on Twitter.
While at holiday events, it’s easy to lose track of a drink here or there – but this can be fatal. This holiday season, keep you and your family safe by spreading this message. I don’t drink alcohol so I know I won’t be driving buzzed this holiday season. I hope you won’t either. Have a safe and happy holiday and remember that buzzed driving IS drunk driving.
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