Get a Ride, Don't Drink and Drive

This post was written by a CSUCI student.

When you are behind the wheel, lives are in your hands. According to the CDC, about 29 people within the United States die every day in a motor vehicle crash that involves an alcohol-impaired driver. Think about it - that is one death every 50 minutes. When you go out and know that you're going to be drinking, always have a friend in mind that won’t be drinking to drive you home or call someone who can pick you up.

If you ever see someone or a friend who has been drinking too much alcohol, here are some signs to keep in mind and precautions you can take to prevent something bad from happening:

1. Get them a cab or an Uber or call someone they know who can pick them up. And make sure that the person picking them up is the same person from the app.

2. If you see that they take out their car keys when they are about to leave and they look impaired, make sure to take the keys away from them.

3. If you haven't been drinking, tell them that you will drive them home because you don’t want anything bad to happen to them.

4. To know if the person is drunk and not able to drive, you can look at their eyes. And if they are bloodshot or having trouble keeping their eyes open then they may have been drinking too much.

5. Look at their posture and the way that they are moving. If you see that the person is swaying from side to side and is not able to walk plus they tend to tip over, then it means that they have had too much to drink. If they can't walk or balance, then how are they going to safely drive a car?

When it comes to holidays, birthday parties, or other types of celebrations, people tend to have a drink and at times they can get carried away. If you're over 21 and have been drinking and you feel that you're okay to drive just because you only had “a few shots,” it's important to know that you cannot drive because even one shot or one drink can affect your ability to drive safely.

Overall, plan ahead when you're going out with friends and make sure to figure out who will be driving and who will not be drinking. Preventing impaired driving is an important thing to do because there are a lot of families that lose a loved one because they were run over by a drunk driver and the person that was driving will have their life changed too. If you are unable to help someone that's drunk and doesn't seem capable of driving, call them a Lyft or an Uber or someone sober to drive them home instead. Don't let them get behind the wheel.