GOHS Warns of Driving Impaired on Cinco De Mayo

Like St. Patrick’s Day and New Year’s Eve, Cinco de Mayo in America is a holiday often celebrated with alcoholic beverages. However, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is warning Georgia motorists that if they don’t arrange for a sober driver, fiesta time will become jail time.

GOHS’ law enforcement partners statewide will be enforcing Georgia’s zero tolerance impaired driving law on Cinco de Mayo with the hopes of avoiding the statistics that already exist for the holiday.

In 2014, 343 people were killed nationwide over the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend from 6 p.m. on Friday, May 2 to 5:59 a.m. to Tuesday, May 6. Of those 343 people, a staggering 34 percent died in drunk driving crashes.

And it seems on Cinco de Mayo, those drivers aren’t just a little bit drunk. Nearly one out of five of the drivers in those fatal crashes were twice the legal blood alcohol limit.

“We’re not telling people not to drink,” GOHS Director Harris Blackwood said. “But impaired driving is a 100 percent preventable crime. We want people to understand that drinking even a little is the same as drinking a lot when it comes to being impaired behind the wheel. So have fun celebrating, but know that Georgia is a zero tolerance state. You either drive sober or you’ll get pulled over.”

In the rush of party preparations, it’s easy to forget the most important party plan of all: designating a sober driver. You can’t plan it by ear and wait until after the party has started to decide whether it will be okay to drive. By that point, it will be too late. Going out for a night of drinking without a plan for getting home safely is a recipe for disaster.

GOHS is encouraging all who plan to celebrate on Cinco de Mayo to have a sober driver plan in place before they go out in addition to downloading the Drive Sober, Georgia smartphone app in case that plan falls through. The app will provide a list of sober driving programs throughout the state.

“The fact is when you drive drunk, you put more than lives at risk,” Blackwood said. “You will be looking at jail time, the loss of your license, higher insurance rates and potentially dozens of other consequences that add up to expenses up to $10,000. Would you rather pay for a taxi home or a DUI?”

From 2010-2014, 38 percent of all traffic crash fatalities during the Cinco de Mayo holiday were drunk-driving related. That’s higher than the 31 percent national daily average for drunk-driving fatalities. So just remember that in Georgia and every other state, drunk driving is 100 percent preventable.

For more information on Georgia’s impaired driving initiatives, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.