Super Bowl LI: Anti-DUI Group Offers Safety Tips

From WRAP: While the teams, site and time have been finalized, a local anti-drunk driving organization is urging the public to also develop a game plan to prevent drunk driving during this year’s “Super Bowl Sunday.”

During Super Bowl Sunday 2015, over one-third (36%) of all traffic fatalities occurring in the U.S. involved alcohol-impaired drivers according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) figures – see NHTSA chart below.

“With over a third of all U.S. traffic deaths being caused by drunk drivers during Super Bowl Sunday, it’s important to have a game-plan to beat this opponent,” said Kurt Gregory Erickson, President of the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP), a 35-year-old public-private partnership combating drunk driving.

The Falls Church-based organization has issued a number of “safe celebrating” tips (below) to prevent drunk driving during “Super Bowl Sunday,” scheduled for February 5, 2017. However, the nonprofit emphasizes that even those not drinking during the game can help deter drunk driving by both reporting suspected drunk drivers as well as by wearing their seatbelts.

“Even if you have every confidence in your own ability to not drive impaired, that confidence doesn’t extend to the next driver,” said Erickson. “Motorists in Greater Washington whom suspect that they are sharing a roadway with an impaired driver should report such by safely dialing 911 in the District of Columbia or Maryland and #77 in Virginia.”

“And while you often hear that wearing a seatbelt may be your best defense against a drunk driver, the true bottom-line is that the routine wearing of seatbelts is the single most effective measure to reduce crash-related deaths and injuries.”

For those hosting or attending Super Bowl parties, WRAP’s tips to prevent drunk driving include:

• Planning ahead and designating a sober driver if you’re celebrating with alcohol.
• Using alternative transportation like taxi cabs, public transportation or ride-sharing services.
• Being a responsible host by:
• Never serving anyone who appears to be impaired.
• Closing the bar at least an hour before the event’s end.
• Designating a sober bartender. (Don’t let guests mix their own drinks.)
• Serving food with alcohol (high protein foods like meats and cheeses stay in the stomach longer thereby slowing the body’s alcohol absorption rate).
• Using a non-carbonated base in alcoholic punches (the body absorbs alcohol faster when mixed with carbonation).
• Serving non-alcoholic beverages as an option.
• Never serving minors.
• And never allowing impaired guest to get behind the wheel.

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