Festivities for Sunday’s big game are fast approaching, with scores of football fans and others making plans for where to watch and what they will eat and drink. AAA advises football fans to prepare by designating a sober driver or arranging for alternate transportation options before the party starts. And party hosts can also play a role in helping prevent drunk driving.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities often spike on holidays and popular drinking days, like Super Bowl Sunday. These deaths were all preventable. The latest NHTSA statistics show the deadly impact of drunk driving:
- In 2022, there were 13,524 people killed in drunk-driving crashes.
- Every day, impaired driving claims the lives of 37 people in the United States.
- Approximately one-third of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers (with BACs at or above .08 g/dL).
- Although it’s illegal to drive when impaired by alcohol, in 2022 one person was killed every 39 minutes in a drunk-driving crash on our nation’s roads.
- Impaired driving fatalities have increased 33% since 2019.
- The rate of alcohol impairment among drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2022 was 2.9 times higher at night than during the day.
- Males are more likely than females to be driving drunk when involved in fatal crashes — in 2022, 23% of males were drunk, compared to 17% of females.
- Alcohol was involved in 45% of all fatal crashes on Super Bowl Sunday in 2022.
Drunk driving is a preventable traffic safety problem. But last year, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reported more than 9,000 alcohol-related crashes – 318 were fatal crashes.
“Drinking and driving is not a game – it’s a deadly combination and a crime,” said Kara Hitchens, public affairs manager, AAA. “Make your winning drive a sober one and designate a completely sober – not buzzed or less drunk – driver or make plans for a ride share or cab home before indulging in alcohol. Drunk driving only leads to disaster and tragedy, and it is 100 percent preventable.”
Many law enforcement agencies throughout Ohio will be on the road with special impaired driving enforcement patrols on game day. A DUI can be costly, ranging from $375 plus legal fees and could include loss of driving privileges and jail time.
AAA Tips for a Safe Big Game Party
Be a responsible partygoer:
- If you plan to drive, don’t drink.
- If you plan to drink, select a designated driver and give them your car keys. If you don’t have a designated driver, ask a sober friend for a ride home; arrange a ride share or cab, or stay where you are and sleep it off until you are sober.
- Buckle up—it’s your best defense against other impaired drivers.
Be a responsible host:
- Collect all drivers’ keys in a bowl when guests arrive.
- Designate someone who’s not drinking to assess guests when they are ready to leave and make sure they are not intoxicated. The ‘roadwise’ host is in charge of the bowl of keys and hands them out only to those who aren’t showing signs of intoxication.
- Offer food and non-alcoholic beverages.
- Mix drinks yourself; avoid open bars. Limit mixing drinks with carbonated beverages; they increase alcohol absorption.
- Stop serving alcohol at the end of the third quarter of the game. Don’t offer “one for the road”
- Only TIME can make guests sober- not coffee or cold showers. It takes about 1 hour to burn off an average drink, 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or 1 ½ ounces of liquor. They all contain about the same amount of alcohol.
- Guests who are sleepy, giddy, overly talkative or uncoordinated could be too impaired to drive. Arrange rides for them or invite them to sleep over. If guests get irate, ‘hide’ their keys until they find a ride home.
- The first ability affected by alcohol is judgment and decision-making. For some people, it only takes one drink for reflexes and judgment needed for driving to be impaired. It’s not a weakness. It’s a reality.
- If a guest would be unsafe behind the wheel, call a cab or ride share service such as Lyft or Uber.
