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TP 1535 E

• No Thanks — I'm Driving
• Tips:
  • Serving Drinks
  • Passengers
  • Teens
  • Parents of Teens
  • Women
  • Hard-Core Drinkers
  • Older Drivers

No Thanks — I'm Driving

Simply, if you’re drinking, don’t drive. If you need to go from one place to another, assign a designated driver, call a cab or take public transportation. It’s never more complicated than that. 

There are other actions you can take to ensure your safety and the safety of those around you:

• Never drink on an empty stomach. Have something to eat before you start drinking. While eating won’t necessarily prevent you from getting drunk, the food spreads the alcohol absorption over a longer period of time.
• Pay attention to the strength of your drinks.
• Don’t be offended if someone suggests that you’ve had too much to drive safely. They are probably right. They’re only looking out for you. Friends don’t let friends drive after drinking too much.
• If you aren’t sure whether you’re impaired, you probably are. Alcohol impairs even that basic judgment. Better to err on the side of caution than to take a chance and regret it later.

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Drives Drunk

People who serve alcoholic beverages, both in public establishments and in private residences, are legally liable for damages caused by their patrons or guests even after they have left the premises. This places the responsibility on servers to ensure guests do not drive if they have had too much to drink.

Outlined below are a few of the many ideas to safely and responsibly enjoy and serve alcohol.

• Don’t push drinks on your guests. If they say "no thanks," offer them a non-alcoholic beverage. Always have a variety of non-alcoholic alternatives available.
• Avoid an open bar. Not only do people tend to drink more than usual, but you have no control over how much they drink.
• Have food available throughout the evening. Remember, though, that salty snack foods can cause people to drink more.
• Don’t drink too much yourself. You need to be alert to changes in the behaviour of your guests. If someone is getting a little too noisy or rowdy, you may have to refuse to serve them any more drinks. You also have to be able to determine if any of your guests have had too much to drive home safely and take action to prevent them from doing so. You can’t do this properly if you are intoxicated.
• Discontinue serving drinks a few hours before the party’s over. Ensure that food and non-alcoholic beverages are available and encourage your guests to stay for refreshments before they go home.
• Have cash on hand for cab fares. Also, be prepared to have overnight guests.
• When inviting guests, remind them that alcohol will be served and they should plan ahead to take a cab, use a designated driver or stay overnight.
  

The Passenger Doesn't Have to be Passive

Passengers can influence the drinking choices of their companions.

• Talk about the plan for the evening and ensure it includes a clear decision about who is driving home. If there are problems, pick an appropriate time to express your concerns calmly and rationally. Be ready to suggest alternatives.
• Refuse to ride with a driver who has had too much to drink. Call a friend or relative. Or use that cash you put away for a cab.
• Monitor your companion’s drinking. Watch for signs of intoxication. Suggest non-alcoholic alternatives and food. If you haven’t had more than a drink or two, offer to drive home and switch to non-alcoholic drinks.
• If your companion suggests that you drive home because you have had less to drink, and you don’t feel safe doing so, say so and suggest an alternative.

Focus on ... the Young — A Special Group

Youth are special because, over the past several years, teens have responded particularly well to the problem of drinking and driving. The decrease in their rate of involvement in alcohol-related crashes has led that of all other age groups during the past decade. Many young people show tremendous responsibility and provide a good example to others. They have embraced the designated driver concept, and it has become socially acceptable to abstain from drinking if you are driving.

Nevertheless, young drivers continue to be at a higher risk of crashing after consuming even small amounts of alcohol. In addition, young people often tend to ride around together in groups, which compounds the effects of a drinking and driving tragedy.

Many of the typical suggestions for preventing impaired driving aren’t applicable to the drinking situations of young people. For starters, since it is illegal for youth under 18 or 19 to purchase alcohol, those who drink anyway tend to be unsupervised. They may drive to a remote location to drink. They often drink in groups, where peer pressure to conform can be overwhelming.

Tips for Teens

• There’s nothing embarrassing about not wanting to lose your licence or risk getting maimed or killed because of drinking and driving. Talk about drinking and driving with your friends. Help everyone understand that the risks are high even after a drink or two. If you use a designated driver, make sure he or she doesn’t have any alcohol to drink at all.
• If your driver has been drinking, don’t get in the car! Call your parents, a friend or relative to come and get you. Sure, they may not like the idea of having to go out in the middle of the night because you and your friends have been doing something you probably shouldn’t have been doing. But by morning, they will probably realize that going to get you was a whole lot better than a visit to the hospital — or the morgue.
• Carry some extra cash so that you can call a cab if necessary.
• Don’t be pressured into having "just one." Graduated licensing and zero tolerance laws mean that you risk losing your licence if you drive after having anything to drink.
• Graduation is a time of celebration. Don’t let drinking and driving spoil the party. Promote the "Safe Grad" concept — encourage alternatives to drinking and make sure everyone has a safe ride home.

Tips for Parents of Teens

• Talk to your teens about drinking and driving. Include a strict zero tolerance policy about alcohol in your rules for use of the family car. In many cases this will reflect (and supplement) graduated licensing laws.
• Make an agreement with your teens. They agree to call for a ride if they or their friends have been drinking and don’t have a safe way home. You agree to provide a ride regardless of where or when — no questions asked. Save the discussion for the next day.
• Make sure your teens understand that even if they don’t drive, getting in a car with someone who has been drinking can still lead to the same devastating effect. Don’t sensationalize, but make them aware of the potentially fatal consequences.
• Provide a good example.

Women — A Changing Picture

A great deal of the information on drinking and driving provided over the past two decades has been specific to men. And for good reason. By far the vast majority of drinking drivers were men. But women are now more likely to drive and more likely to drink than they were several years ago. Consequently, they are also more likely to be involved in drinking and driving.

It is important for women to recognize that they typically reach higher BACs than men after consuming the same amount of alcohol. Not only are women generally smaller than men, but they also have less body water in which to distribute the alcohol they consume.

• The "one drink an hour" rule does not work for women. To stay below the limit, you have to restrict your consumption to less than one drink every two hours.
• When you are out with a group of female friends, make sure they, too, realize how little alcohol it takes to become impaired. Watch out for each other’s safety.
• Don’t leave the responsibility for your transportation to someone else. Arrange for a safe ride home before you go out. It is always wise to have a backup plan.

The Hard-Core Drinker — The Hardest to Reach

The unprecedented reductions in the number of alcohol-involved crashes over the past decade or so have largely been attributed to changes in attitude and behaviour among the general population of socially responsible individuals. A good deal of the problem that remains can be attributed to those who occasionally consume too much alcohol before driving and a relatively small group of heavy drinkers who repeatedly drive after consuming large amounts of alcohol — often with BACs of .15 or more. Some have even been convicted of an impaired driving offence.

These hard core drinking drivers have proven to be a very difficult group to change. They do not appear to be affected by persuasive messages or emotional appeals or even the threat of arrest and punishment. Despite their best intentions their drinking becomes excessive and, all too often, they drive afterwards. Many of these people are alcohol abusers — some are alcohol-dependent.

These people are not likely to stop drinking and driving overnight. Friends and relatives, however, can play an important role in helping them recognize the extent to which alcohol is having a negative impact on their lives. There are some things you can do to help someone who continues to drive when impaired.

• Find an appropriate time to discuss your concerns about their drinking. Don’t do it when they’re drunk.
• Be supportive of their efforts to seek help. Offer suggestions of rehabilitation services.
• Don’t exclude them from group activities. Try to find alcohol-free activities and encourage them to participate.
• Remember, cutting down or stopping drinking can be very difficult. Slips and relapses are not uncommon. If a slip occurs, don’t give up. This is when they need your support the most.

Older Drivers — Staying on the Road... Safely

Older drivers make up an ever-increasing proportion of the driving population. As we age, our physical abilities begin to deteriorate. We don’t see as well — particularly at night — and we aren’t able to move as quickly as we used to. Older drivers may compensate by driving more slowly or not driving at all after dark.

Alcohol consumption generally decreases with age as well. To some extent, this may be because the effects of alcohol become more pronounced with age. It takes less alcohol to impair the driving performance of older people. Add this to the diminishing abilities of this group, and you have a potentially dangerous situation when alcohol and driving are mixed.