DELMARVA- AAA is reminding people to drive carefully ahead of Super Bowl weekend festivities.
AAA Mid-Atlantic is encouraging party planners and football fans to prepare by designating a sober driver or arranging for alternate transportation options before the party starts.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities often spike on holidays and popular drinking days, like Super Bowl Sunday. Every day, about 32 people in the U.S die in drunk driving crashes – that’s one person every 45 minutes. In 2020, 11,654 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths, that's a 14% increase from 2019. These deaths were all preventable, according to NHTSA.
A new report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety finds unsafe driving behaviors, including impaired driving, rose from 2020 to 2021. The most alarming increase was among drivers admitting to getting behind the wheel after drinking enough that they felt they were over the legal limit - an increase of nearly 24%. According to new survey data in the AAA Foundation’s annual Traffic Safety Culture Index, this is a reversal in the steady declines in these dangerous driving behaviors in the three years from 2018 through 2020.
“Drinking and driving is not a game – it’s a deadly combination and a crime,” said Ragina C. Ali, Manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “Make your winning drive a sober one and designate a driver before indulging in alcohol. Don’t fumble when it comes to safety. Drunk driving is 100 percent preventable.”
Tips for a Safe Big Game Party
Be a responsible partygoer:
- If you plan to drive, don’t drink.
- If you plan to drink, select a designated driver and give them your car keys.
- If you don’t have a designated driver, ask a sober friend for a ride home or call a cab or a rideshare service.
- Buckle up - it’s your best defense against other impaired drivers.
Be a responsible host:
- Serve food and provide non-alcoholic beverages.
- Make sure all of your guests designate their sober drivers in advance, or help arrange ridesharing with other sober drivers.
- Avoid holding an open bar and mix your guests’ drinks yourself.
- Stop serving alcohol at the end of the third quarter of the game and begin serving coffee and dessert.
- Take the keys away from anyone who is thinking of driving while impaired.
