Dear Editor:
The holiday season is the time when AAA North Jersey, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other groups observe National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month during the month of December. “The coalition’s educational campaign is a nationwide effort to reduce the traffic fatalities and injuries caused by impaired drivers,” said William Patterson, vice president at AAA North Jersey.
The “National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month” campaign includes the “National Holiday Lifesavers Weekend” that will lick off on Friday, December 15, 2000 with the “Lights On For Life” campaign. This program encourages drivers and law enforcement officers to drive with their headlights on throughout the day to recognize those who have been killed or injured by impaired drivers.
Even though alcohol related deaths have decreased in recent years, drunk driving remains a very serious national problem that affects thousands of victims annually. Patterson noted that 38 percent of the 41,611 traffic fatalities in 1999 were alcohol related.
AAA North Jersey offers the following suggestions aimed at preventing drunk and drugged driving:
Volunteer to be a designated driver.
Never condone or approve of excessive alcohol consumption. Intoxicated behavior is potentially dangerous and never amusing.
Don’t allow your friends to drive drunk. Have them stay the night, have them ride with someone else, call a taxi or do whatever is necessary — but don’t let them get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
Don’t ever drive if you or anyone else thinks you may have had too much to drink.
Be part of the solution. Join AAA and your community in the fight against impaired driving and support law enforcement efforts against those who choose to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
AAA North Jersey