Be warned: the State Patrol will have extra troopers scouring the highways this holiday weekend, doing their darndest to take aggressive, speeding and drunken drivers off the road.
Get caught, especially if you’re driving drunk, and your new year will be off to an unhappy beginning. First-time offenders for driving under the influence generally face a mandatory 24 hours in jail or a minimum of 15 days of electronic home monitoring, but that’s just for starters. You’ll face fines and other fees of nearly $850, a 90-day suspension of your driver’s license and you may have to undergo alcohol counseling. When you get your license back, you’ll be required to blow into a gadget just to start your car. The embarrassment alone will hurt. And you can bet that your insurance rates will take an ugly jump.
But then, that’s only if you don’t get yourself killed. If you hurt or kill someone else, well, get used to prison life.
Now – right this minute – is the time to prevent all this. If your celebration of the new year will include drinking, take steps now – while you’re still rational – to ensure you won’t get behind the wheel.
You know the strategies. Designate someone who will stay sober to drive home from the party or the bar. Call a cab. Or, if you’re going to be partying at a friend’s house, plan to spend the night.
If you’re hosting a party this weekend, you’ve signed up for more than entertaining. It’s also your moral responsibility to keep your intoxicated guests from driving home. And don’t kid yourself into believing that they’re OK to drive because they’ve “only had a few.” Getting to the legal blood-alcohol limit of .08 takes very little drinking, and it’s easy to lose track.
Alcohol-related traffic deaths are headed in the right direction in Washington – from 261 in 2003 to 246 last year. The number involving legally drunk drivers, though, stayed about even over the same period. Some people still don’t get it.
Don’t be one of them. Create some good memories this weekend, but first take steps to make sure they’ll stay that way.
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