It's New Year's Eve and it's time to enjoy the last night of 2016. Whether you still have a few hours to go or have already begun celebrating there's just no excuse for ringing in 2017 by drinking and driving. These 5 tips can help you have a safe and new year.
1. Hopefully you've planned ahead and already have a reliable designated driver (DD) lined up, but if you don't, or if your driver flakes, it's not too late to find one. Ask around to find out if there's an empty seat in any exiting carpools. If there's not a spot available then chat up the cutie who's opting for soda instead of alcohol.
2. Call a ride service like Uber or Lyft. Lyft is offering a $50 coupon to new customers in the form of $5 off each of your first 10 rides here. The My Cab Finder App is available for Android and iOS.
3. Dryver, the nation's largest personal driver service, is surprisingly affordable. You can schedule a driver ahead of time, or chose the car pickup option to have two drivers dispatched to your location - one to drive you and your car home safely and another to take your driver back to HQ when the job is done. Car pickup service starts at $25 plus mileage, which is an excellent bargain when you compare that to the costs of a DUI, legal and medical bills, and other devastating consequences of drunk driving.
4. DrinkingAndDriving.org offers the National Directory of Designated Driver Services, a state-by-state directory of designated driver services in your area. If you don't live in a major city it may take some Google searches and a few phone calls to secure a ride, but the time and effort is worth it to preserve your dignity and self-respect.
5. If all else fails and you're truly stranded, it's better to sleep it off on a couch or in your car (weather permitting) than to get the behind the wheel when you've had too much to drink.
*AAA is offering a Holiday Safe Ride progam in select cities and states. Click here to see if you're town's on the list.
Photo by Flickr user DieselDemon. Used under Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0.
