According to an email I just received from Sarah at CertificationMap.com, it’s Impaired Driving Prevention Month. Hooray! And here I was looking forward to Christmas!
To “celebrate,” they created the infographic below, which shares some very sobering facts about driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
Please pass this along to folks as a way to remind them to be smart this holiday season and stay sober behind the wheel. Of course you’re already doing that (right?), so the next step is to not look the other way when someone else is too drunk to drive. Sure it’s awkward to intervene and you really don’t want to drive them home or have them stay the night, but it’s better to have someone crash on your couch than crash into a bus full of orphans and nuns.
Anyway, it’s up to each of us to make this a safe and a happy holiday season.
Hey, I can see really far from up on this soapbox!! 😉
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Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
“Drunk drivers are typically arrested after their 80th offense”
Where do they find that info? Do people confess to the cops, “it’s been a good run, but after my Joe Dimaggio-esque streak of 80, you finally got me!”
I was thinking the same thing. I guess I have 79 free ones coming to me.
That comment is hilarious.
“I’m the Yankee Clipper of drunk driving!”
The one in three stat is the one that really surprised me (one in three Americans will be involved in a crash involving alcohol).
They should add statistics and findings about cell phone usage and accidents. Studies have found that just talking on a cell phone while driving (with or without “hands free”) impairs you far more than drinking. Drinking and driving is bad enough, but combine that with people who can’t go a second without using their phone, especially when drunk, and it’s a nightmare.
Agreed. Distracted driving is as bad or worse, but only for a few seconds at a time. Drunk driving is a constant stream of suckage…
That’s why I liked drinking in the UK so much (also the quality of the beer of course). The term “pub crawl” was pretty much literal.
BTW: one trick in my book is to have a designated driver who then receives a “consolation prize” (aka a goody basket) from those (s)he helps out.
Also, that’s why God invented taxis–just figger it as part of the cost of the beer.
In re the distracted drivers: You ain’t seen nothin’ if you haven’t commuted into D.C.–people drinking coffee or soda (or beer!), doing their make-up, texting, eating breakfast, adjusting their various electronic doo-dads, etc., etc.–sometimes all at the same time!
I think a city’s public transportation infrastructure is directly related to it’s rate of drunk driving arrests. Why crawl (or drive) when you can take the train?
40% of snake bites involve a “victim” with a BAC of .1 or greater. If you are drunk and playing with a snake then you’re a victim of your own stupidity rather than of the reptile.
Anyway, thanks for this – I’m thinking about posting it on my green drinks page. I’ve heard that MADD wants ignition interlocks as standard on all new cars and that, I don’t agree with, but the general warning against drunk driving is a good thing to repeat from time to time.
MADD would have a point if it was being run by mothers. The current head of MADD is a male. The founder has since distanced herself from the organization in part because of its’ neo-prohibitionist stances. Not to condone drunk driving but MADD is not the organization it purports to be.
Yeah, I thought about addressing that in the post, but I didn’t want to muddy the message which is a good one – don’t drink and drive!
So 62% of accidents are caused by sober assholes?
Yeah – what’s THEIR excuse?!
I’m no math, but if they’re going to play the numbers game, I’ll say you’re almost twice as likely to be in a sober accident than a drunken one.
Good point – drink to survive!!!
I am. Neat Basil Hayden’s next to my laptop here.
I think we do things differently here in the South. Drunk-driving isn’t exactly a stated part of the culture, but public transport blows and everybody’s always drunk. So i guess I lied.
I would also like to call bullshit on the lives saved by raising the national drinking minimum age.