Last Updated on February 1, 2014 10:32 am
The Super Bowl is one of our nation’s most highly anticipated sporting events, with friends and family gathering in homes, bars and restaurants to celebrate. As Super Bowl Sunday approaches and football fans across North Carolina prepare for the big match up, the N.C. Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Highway Safety Program remind fans to have a winning game plan and designate a sober driver.
“Gathering to watch the Super Bowl is a great tradition,” said Don Nail, director of N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program. “The real winner of the game is always the one who plans ahead and makes the smart decision to designate a sober driver.”
NCDOT and GHSP remind everyone that Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk. Before choosing to drink, choose your team’s MVP – a sober designated driver.
GHSP offers these additional safety tips for those attending a Super Bowl party or watching the game at a sports bar or restaurant:
• If you don’t have a designated driver, ask a sober friend for a ride home; call a cab to come and get you; or just stay for the night.
• Use your community’s sober ride program.
• Never let friends drive if they have had too much to drink.
If you’re hosting a Super Bowl party:
• Make sure all your guests designate a sober driver in advance, or arrange for alternate transportation to ensure they get home safely.
• Serve food and include non-alcoholic beverages at the party.
• Stop serving alcohol at the end of the third quarter of the game and begin serving coffee and dessert.
• Keep the numbers for local cab companies handy, and take the keys away from anyone who has had too much to drink.
Last February, there were more than 18,000 crashes on North Carolina highways, resulting in 70 fatalities. Out of those crashes, 854 were alcohol related and resulted in 21 fatalities.
Alcohol-related and unbelted fatalities can be easily prevented. Law enforcement officers across the state will be out on Sunday, reminding drivers that in North Carolina it is “Booze It & Lose It” and “Click It or Ticket.”
