Stay sober, get a designated driver or call a cab this New Year’s Eve
(San Antonio) — Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) wants to help create a world where there are no more victims of drunk driving crashes. That’s why MADD has been reaching out during the holiday season to again encourage people to find a safe way home if they been out drinking.
Natalie Paulus, manager of victim services for MADD, says there are a couple of things they want people to keep in mind before they head out to their New Year’s Eve celebration this weekend.
“The first and most obvious is — don’t drink and drive. Don’t drive while you are impaired. Just take precautions. Have a plan setup ahead of time. If you do plan to drink, make sure that you are going to get home safely or plan to stay where you are at — so you are not driving while intoxicated,” said Paulus.
“The second point would be for everyone to just be aware while they are out and about this upcoming weekend, especially during the evening hours to the early morning hours. Those are the times when most crashes do happen. These drunk driving crashes and these impaired driving crashes can happen to anyone. It does not discriminate. So everyone needs to be aware and just use caution when they are out driving. That will certainly help to reduce…these crashes.”
Paulus says they believe that if people follow a few steps, then they can go a long way towards stopping drunk driving crashes. She says these accidents can be prevented, but people have to first make sure they have a responsible plan for how they will get home.
“Every single crash relating to drunk or drugged driving is 100 percent preventable. What I have found is, in these types of situations, the vast majority — if not all of the drivers that are impaired and are the cause of these types of crashes — they don’t intend to hurt or injure someone or to hurt or injure themselves, or to kill anyone or themselves. That’s not the intention. It’s more, ‘I need to get where I’m going’ (or) ‘I want to go home’ — those kinds of thoughts. No one actually expects these kinds of things to happen, but it can happen to anyone regardless of how far or how close you are to your home. Just be aware that it can happen and it does happen quite frequently,” said Paulus.
People who don’t have a designated driver or some other safe way will often find themselves trying to rationalize with a version of themselves that is in no condition to make a good decision about whether they should drive home or not. You might be a good person, but Paulus says that it only takes one bad decision, like drinking and driving, to turn your life upside down.
“Even though the intent isn’t there, it can still happen to anyone at anytime. Whether you are driving late at night. Whether you’ve been out to a New Year’s Eve party and you make a bad judgment call and you decide to drive that evening. Or if you are out for afternoon brunch and you’ve been drinking. There isn’t the intention there, but it still can happen. Just looking at the statistics, you can see that it does happen. It happens very frequently. So regardless of someone’s intention, everyone has to be really mindful of what they are doing and make sure that they are not drinking and driving,” said Paulus.
Once you recognize that it could happen to you, you need to immediately begin making a plan for your night out on the town. Whether you plan to ring in the New Year at a neighborhood bar or your’e heading into New Braunfels or San Antonio for a big night out — Paulus says either way, you need to have a plan for a safe way home.
“What I tell people is…when you want to designate someone to drive, you don’t want to choose the person that has been drinking the least. You want someone who hasn’t been drinking at all. And we want to carry that not just with our New Year’s Eve party, but also through 2022 and beyond. Whether it’s designating a driver, getting an Uber or Lyft — whatever it is, make sure those things are pre-planned so that there is less likelihood that as someone is becoming impaired from drinking, they are less likely to make those poor decisions,” said Paulus.
MADD’s goal is to help create a world where there are zero drunk driving victims. It’s a high expectation and a lofty goal, but Paulus says they really hope that will someday be the case.
“What we say, is that every single person at MADD would be thrilled to be out of a job,” said Paulus. “We don’t want to be doing this work at all. We want to help the victims that are out there, but we wish that this wasn’t happening, because it is 100 percent preventable and all of us would be glad to be out of this line of work,” said Paulus.
Until that happens, the non-profit group, and people like Paulus, will continue to try to offer support to those who need it, while also trying to prevent future drunk driving accidents.
“Anytime that we can bring more awareness to the community, the better. Part of what I do is — I’m an advocate for victims. MADD provides free services, whether you were a victim 40 years ago or yesterday, they can reach out to our national office or the local MADD office that services the area, and they can get free services at any time,” said Paulus.
Having a safe New Year’s Eve outing may require that you do more than just abstain from drinking if you are planning to drive during the holiday period. Even if you are sober, you also may need to have a defensive approach to driving. which may help to keep you safe from others who aren’t being as careful that night.
“Be aware when you are out and about. Be aware, even when you are backing out of driveways late at night or early in the morning. When you are driving on the freeways, be aware of potential headlights coming in your direction. Really it’s just about people being aware to try not to become a victim of these type crimes,” said Paulus
MADD also encourages people to be part of the solution when it comes to preventing drunk driving incidents. You can make a donation by going online to madd.org. You can also access the group’s free services via it’s website, or you can call MADD’s 24-hour Victim Help Line at 1-877-MADD-HELP (1-877-623-3435).