CARIBOU, Maine — In the wake of President Barack Obama’s Nov. 28 proclamation, Power of Prevention and Drug Free Communities/Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention program is helping to get the word out to community members that December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Department of Transportation, as reported on the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver, which is the equivalent of one death every 51 minutes; and the annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $59 billion.
With these staggering statistics, it may seem strange to most that anyone would ever make the choice to drive impaired, but by examining these numbers, it is clear that far too many people are endangering their own lives as well as the lives of others by making the choice to drink and drive. During this holiday season, when party-goers are likely to be on the road after a night of celebrating, there is one local business doing what they can to lower these statistics on New Years Eve — a day in which the number of people drinking and driving is surely to spike — and do their part in making the roads a safer place even if only for a night.
Locally, New Year’s Eve revelers in Caribou have a unique resource at their fingertips if they get too tipsy to drive. Beaulieu’s Garage and Body Shop will give a complimentary tow and ride home to anyone in Caribou who has had too much to drink to get behind the wheel on New Year’s Eve, a community service they have offered for many years. All one has to do to take advantage of this service is call Beaulieu’s at 492-2471.
“Beaulieu’s has been offering this service to the community since 1988,” said one of the shop’s co-owners, Jeff Robertson. “It started that year when a group of towers got together and decided to start offering the service to people in their communities from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve. That group only last for about two or three years, but we decided to keep the service going. We narrowed it down to only New Year’s Eve, however, because we found that was the night that we really saw a big need for the service.”
According to Robertson, the goal of the service was to try and curb the potential for accidents associated with drunk driving.
“We saw that there were really a lot of preventable accidents happening on this night, and we wanted to provide a service that would prevent as many drunk driving accidents as possible,” said Robertson.
Robertson explained that the service includes a full tow and ride home for no charge.
“We’ll come pick you up and tow your car home for free,” said Robertson. “We’ve got at least a couple tow trucks available throughout the night as needed.”
When asked how much the service was being utilized by the community, Robertson said that the number of calls really varies from year to year.
“It all depends on if people have fresh pay-check money in their pockets, which depends on what day of the week it is,” said Robertson. “Another major factor is the weather. If it’s blistering cold outside people don’t tend to go out and party as much, so there are a lot of variables.”
Drunk driving is an issue that groups like Power of Prevention are concerned with all year round, but the month of December has been designated as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. According to Mark Shea, project coordinator for Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention, due to the holidays, it’s a time of the year when the problem becomes even more prevalent.
“Drunk driving is an issue year-round, and we certainly echo President Obama’s sentiments in striving to increase awareness of the dangers and devastating consequences of impaired driving,” said Shea. “The holiday season is a time when this issue comes to the forefront, as many people attend holidays parties with friends and family and many of those parties involve drinking. That makes this a crucial time to encourage folks to refrain from getting behind the wheel when they have had too much to drink.”
Shea spoke about some of the things the people at Power of Prevention and Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention have been doing for the last month to create more awareness for this issue.
“We have primarily used our Facebook page this month to spread the word about the dangers of drunk driving. Although they are not exclusive to our efforts this month,” Shea added. “We also have banners at local high schools that target area youth with a positive message against alcohol use, which ties in to the overall drunk driving theme. The banners read, ‘The majority of Aroostook teens do not use alcohol. Join the crowd!’”
With this holiday season being such a dangerous time for drunk driving accidents, Shea gave some helpful hints on how these accidents can be avoided.
“I think it’s important to remember the adage, ‘all things in moderation.’ Is it okay to party and have a good time? Sure it is, but don’t take it too far,” said Shea. “A good rule of thumb is to use the ‘Three P’s: plan, prepare and pace.’ Plan where you are going, who you are going with and how you are getting home; use a designated driver. Prepare for the party by eating, drinking plenty of water, and making sure you take just enough money to have a good time; leave the credit cards at home so you don’t spend or drink too much. Pace yourself by limiting how much you drink in a night. Pacing yourself can help avoid getting sick, passing out and enduring a hangover the next day.”
When asked what more could be done to help prevent the problems associated with impaired driving, and why it is he thinks people continue to drink and drive despite these sobering statistics, Shea explained that unfortunately, there are many reasons why people drink and then get behind the wheel.
“Many think that they will not get caught, or that is not a significant risk to drink and drive. Many times, people party in a group setting, then choose the least intoxicated person to drive home. Interestingly, one of the most frequent reasons that people choose to drive after drinking is to avoid having to leave their car behind,” Shea added. “The bottom line is, there is no good reason to get behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated. To help reduce the number of drunk driving incidents. We regularly help sponsor training programs for alcohol sellers and servers in the area, which aim to educate the folks at bars, convenience stores, etc. to identify the signs that someone may have had too much to drink, among other things. We also help sponsor compliance checkpoints with local law enforcement agencies.”
Clearly, there is no shortage of effort being expended on the part of people like Shea and his fellow employees, and there is also certainly no lack of community support as evidenced by the services provided by local businesses like Beaulieu’s. However, still more awareness needs to be spread throughout communities like our own, stressing the dangers of drunk driving.
For more information contact Shea, Drug Free Communities Project coordinator at mark@powerofprevention.org, or Julie Daigle, Community Outreach Coordinator for Power of Prevention, at julie@powerofprevention.org.
