Plan for a Sober Driver This St. Patrick’s Day

 

DOVER, Del. (March 14, 2023) —The Delaware Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is reactivating its SoberLift program and bringing awareness to the negative consequences of driving under the influence. In addition, OHS is continuing to partner with State and local law enforcement to conduct DUI patrols through March 19th.  If your plans for the holiday include alcohol, make sure you plan for a sober driver.

OHS is bringing back its SoberLift program statewide for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day holiday weekend and will be incorporating the program into this year’s St. Paddy’s Loop in Wilmington set for Saturday, March 11th. The SoberLift code will be valid from Saturday, March 11 at 9 a.m. to Sunday, March 12 at 2 a.m. in New Castle County and Thursday, March 16 at 7 p.m. to Sunday, March 19 at 2 a.m. statewide. To participate, text SoberLift at 888-991-2740 to receive a $20 Lyft voucher.

OHS began SoberLift in 2018 offering rideshare discount codes during the times of the year when we see an increase in impaired driving such as St. Patrick’s Day, Independence Day, and throughout the Holiday season. Since the start of the program, over 1,200 rides have been redeemed helping Delawareans get home safely.

“This year, St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday, and celebrations involving increased alcohol consumption are anticipated throughout the weekend,” said Richard Klepner, Deputy Director, Delaware Office of Highway Safety. “Don’t be the reason someone — including yourself — doesn’t get home. If you’ve been drinking, make the smart choice to plan for a sober driver to get you and your friends home safely.”

Click here to see our new Impaired driving campaign video https://youtu.be/6GDtqGhz8qw

In 2022, there were 1,201 crashes, 104 serious injuries and 4,655 arrests involving impaired driving in Delaware. Of those, 26 crashes, 2 fatalities, and 103 arrests occurred during the St. Patrick’s Day extended holiday weekend, from March 16 – March 21.

Nationally, according to NHTSA, 11,654 people were killed in drunk-driving crashes in 2020. On average, more than 10,000 people were killed each year from 2016 to 2020 — one person was killed in a drunk-driving crash every 45 minutes in 2020.

St. Patrick’s Day is one of the deadliest times on our nation’s roads. During the 2016-2020 St. Patrick’s Day holiday period (6 p.m. March 16 to 5:59 a.m. March 18), 287 lives were lost in drunk-driving crashes. In 2020 alone, 37 people were killed in drunk-driving crashes over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday period (6 p.m. March 16 to 5:59 a.m. March 18). Drivers should also keep an eye out for pedestrians. Walking while intoxicated can also be deadly; alcohol can affect your judgment and increase the risk to pedestrians of getting hit by a vehicle.

If you’re the designated driver, make sure you keep that promise of safety to yourself and your passengers. It can be a long night, but people are counting on you, not to mention the other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians on the streets. Take the role of a designated driver seriously — people are relying on you.

Celebrate with a Plan

Before ever heading out, it’s vital to plan ahead. Be honest with yourself: You know whether you’ll be drinking or not. Follow these ideas to ensure you and your fellow partygoers stay safe.

• Plan ahead: If you wait until you’ve been drinking to make a smart decision, you might not. Before you have one drink, designate a sober driver who won’t be drinking.
• You have options: designate a sober driver, call a taxi, or use a rideshare service. Getting home safely is always worth it.
• If it’s your turn to be the designated driver, take your job seriously and don’t drink.
• Do you have a friend who is about to drink and drive? Take the keys away and let a sober driver get your friend home safely.

About the Delaware Office of Highway Safety
The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is committed to improving the safety of Delaware’s motoring public by focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues, such as impaired driving, seat belt use, speeding, child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety, and teen driving issues. FAQs can be found at ArriveAliveDE.com. Follow OHS on the Delaware Office of Highway Safety website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

 

Media Contact:

Delaware Office of Highway safety

Jason Coleman

Jason.coleman@delaware.gov

302-744-2743

 The Delaware Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is once again implementing a multi-tiered strategy to encourage responsible driving behaviors and, ultimately, create safer roadways throughout Delaware during the Fourth of July holiday. The OHS SoberLift program, presented in partnership with Lyft®, will be activated in Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, South Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, and Ocean View nightly from 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. beginning Thursday, July 1 and continuing through Monday, July 5, ending at 2:00 a.m.

A key component of the campaign is the opportunity for individuals to receive free Lyft® vouchers* enabling them to “ride sober.” A discount code for a maximum $15 Lyft® value can be redeemed by texting “SOBERLIFT” to 99000. The Lyft® opportunity works hand in hand with a robust communications campaign throughout the Delaware beaches over the holiday weekend, and DUI checkpoints implemented by state and local law enforcement statewide (see below for dates and locations).

“The Fourth of July is about coming together and celebrating what unites us. Sadly, it is also an all-too-often deadly time on Delaware roads.  Before you head out for your celebrations, remember to plan ahead and arrange for a sober ride home,” Kimberly Chesser, Director, Delaware Office of Highway Safety.  “Deaths and serious injuries caused by impaired driving are preventable, and too many lives are tragically cut short in traffic crashes involving alcohol- and drug-impaired driving.”

Throughout the July Fourth SoberLift initiative, OHS will engage in a steady stream of messaging that encourages drivers and passengers to understand the risks and potential consequences of driving while impaired and to plan for a sober ride before the celebration begins. To achieve its goals, OHS will be communicating with the community through print and digital advertising; social media; table tents, posters, and sandwich boards in public areas, restaurants, and retailers throughout Delaware beach towns, in addition to public relations efforts. OHS encourages drivers to use its recently launched Arrive Alive DE Impaired Driving Simulator — available at arrivealivede.com/drive-sober—a first-of-its-kind augmented reality tool to help website visitors see the potential effects of impairment on driving. The “drive sober” website page also houses the new BAC Calculator tool to help website visitors understand the different levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) which refers to the percentage of alcohol in a person’s bloodstream. In Delaware, a person is legally intoxicated if they have a BAC of 0.08% or higher.

Additional support will come from community partners helping to distribute educational materials and influence the unique community they serve. Most notably, the State of Delaware Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement will be distributing SoberLift materials to bars and restaurants in beach communities as well as engaging staff and other groups in discussion of ways they can impact positive behavior by, for example, adhering to over-pouring regulations.

“The SoberLift program allows the Delaware Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement the opportunity to work with our partners at Delaware Office of Highway Safety in promoting positive behavior by beach area bars and restaurants and helping to ensure our citizens and Delaware roadways are safer during the holiday weekend,” Chief John A. Yeomans, Delaware Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement.

Sponsors of this SoberLift program include Breakthru Beverage DE, Captain Morgan, Two Stones, Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen, First State Brew Bus, Washington Street Ale House/Oyster House, Dewey Business Partnership, Bluecoast Seafood, and Grill Rehoboth, The Starboard, Liquid Alchemy Brewing, and Aloysius Butler & Clark (AB&C).

“Since 2018, over 1,200 people across Delaware have used OHS’s SoberLift program during Fourth of July, and other periods prone to higher incidence rates for DUI arrests and crashes rather than possibly drive home impaired. The campaign is a success due to these people making the responsible decision to make a plan for a sober ride home before the celebrating begins,” Cynthia Cavett, Marketing Specialist II & Public Information Officer, Delaware Office of Highway Safety.

July 4^th DUI Checkpoints Activated Statewide

Three sobriety checkpoints are scheduled for the upcoming holiday weekend beginning Friday, July 2 at 10 p.m. and continuing into Saturday, July 3 at 2 a.m. The checkpoints are part of a weekend-long mobilization educating Delawareans to secure a sober ride home before starting their celebration festivities.

The following are the scheduled checkpoint locations for the holiday weekend:

• New Castle County – Route 72 near Newark
• Kent County – U.S. 13 near Dover
• Sussex County – State Route 24 near Millsboro

The Independence Day holiday DUI checkpoint activation will include sixty-six law enforcement officers from fifteen local, county, and municipal police agencies in addition to Delaware State Police. At least one Drug Recognition Enforcement (DRE) officer will be part of the checkpoint activation in each county. The checkpoint locations are in targeted areas known to have a high number of DUI arrests and crashes including both injuries and fatalities.

OHS reminds drivers and passengers that in addition to alcohol and illegal drugs, medications prescribed by a healthcare provider and even some over-the-counter drugs can impair driving and may carry severe penalties.

Impaired Driving Statistics for Delaware

Over the period of 5 years from 2016-2020, drivers between the ages of 35 to 44 have shown the highest numbers of DUI crashes, with drivers 20 to 29 trailing behind. In the age-gender groups, it seems that age 20-29 and 35-44 males are the biggest contributors to this trend. Saturday typically has the highest number of DUI-related crashes, followed closely by Sunday for the 5-year average. The times where DUI-related crashes occur the most are:

• Friday 9 p.m. – 12 a.m.
• Saturday 9 p.m. – 12 a.m.
• Sunday 12 a.m. – 3 a.m.
• Saturday 12 a.m. – 3 a.m.

Over the July Fourth holiday weekend in 2020 (July 2 – 5, 2020):

• 52 DUI arrests were made over the holiday period (July 2 – 5, 2020)
• 24 DUI-related crashes resulted in:
  • 13 injuries
  • 4 fatalities

For more information, visit https://www.arrivealivede.com/drive-sober/.

*The number of daily SoberLift codes available will be limited.

Media Contact:

AB&C, Jenn Buchman, JBuchman@abcreative.com

DOHS, Cynthia Cavett, Cynthia.Cavett@delaware.gov

DATE, Jason Atallian, Jason.Atallian@delaware.gov

About the Delaware Office of Highway Safety
The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is committed to improving the safety of Delaware’s motoring public by focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues, such as impaired driving, seat belt use, speeding, child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety, and teen driving issues. Follow the Delaware Office of Highway Safety on ArriveAliveDE.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Office of Highway Safety Activates  SoberLift^® Program for St. Patrick’s Day 

*MEDIA ALERT*

Friday, March 13, 2020 

Statewide DUI initiative to run from March 13 through March 18

WHAT:     The Delaware Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is re-activating the SoberLift program, in partnership with Lyft^® over St. Patrick’s Day weekend, statewide.

The program will begin on Friday, March 13, at 8 p.m., and run through Wednesday, March 18 at 2 a.m., and will provide free Lyft^® vouchers* (maximum value of $15) for individuals who want a sober ride. To participate in the program, individuals need to text “SOBERLIFT” to 99000 to redeem the discount code.

Campaign sponsors include Breakthru Beverage DE, Crown Royal, Captain Morgan, Two Stones Pub, Buffalo Wild Wings, Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen, First State Brew Bus, Kelly’s Logan House, Washington Street Ale House/Oyster House, Wilmington Blue Rocks, Delaware Department of Insurance, Dewey Business Partnership, Bluecoast Seafood Grill & Raw Bar Rehoboth, The Starboard, Liquid Alchemy Brewing, and Aloysius Butler & Clark (AB&C). 

WHERE:  State of Delaware              

WHEN:   Friday, March 13 at 8 p.m., and running through Wednesday, March 18 at 2 a.m.

WHO:     The Delaware Office of Highway Safety

                Lyft^®

MORE:    St. Patrick’s Day ranks among the top five most popular drinking days in America – only behind New Year’s Eve, Christmas and Fourth of July, and like most states, it is celebrated across several weekends throughout March as well as the actual day. In 2018 alone, 73 people (39% of all crash fatalities) were killed in drunk-driving crashes over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday period (NHTSA). 673 DUI arrests have already taken place in Delaware in 2020.

OHS encourages Delawareans to have fun, but if you plan to drink make the safest choice – during one of the most dangerous times of the year – by utilizing SoberLift, to Arrive Alive during this festive holiday.

For more information on sober driving, please visit ArriveAliveDE.com/Drive-Sober and for more information on sober rides, please visit ArriveAliveDE.com/Drive-Sober/Safe-Rides.

*The number of daily codes available will be limited.

 CONTACT: Cynthia Cavett (302-744-2743) or Jenn Buchman (215-806-1635)

You can follow the Delaware Office of Highway Safety by clicking on:

Delaware Office of Highway Safety Web Site

Facebook

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About the Delaware Office of Highway Safety
The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is committed to improving the safety of Delaware’s motoring public by focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues such as impaired driving, seat belt use, speeding, child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety, and teen driving issues. FAQs can be found at ArriveAliveDE.com.

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