Safety Tips New Year's Eve

If you are hosting a New Year's Eve party, following a few simple rules could prevent a tragedy:

•Plan ahead by naming a "designated driver." Make this your responsibility as the host.

•Contact a local cab company to provide rides for your guests.

•Serve non-alcoholic beverages as an option to your guests.

•Stop serving alcohol to your guests several hours before the party ends.

•Provide your guests with a place to stay overnight in your home.

If you are attending New Year's Eve parties and celebrations:

•If you drink, don't drive.

•Plan ahead and always designate a sober driver before the party or celebration begins.

•If you are impaired, call a taxi, use mass transit, or get a sober friend or family member to come pick you up.

•Or, stay where you are until you are sober.

•Take the keys from someone if you think he/she is too impaired to drive.

The tragedies and costs from drinking and driving impaired don't just end with the potential death, disfigurement, disability and injury caused by impaired drivers. Driving impaired or riding with someone who is impaired isn't worth the risk. The consequences are serious and real. Not only do you risk killing yourself or someone else, but the trauma and financial costs of a crash or an arrest for driving while impaired can be significant.