As people make plans for New Year’s Eve, AAA wants drivers to be mindful as they head to their celebrations. The holiday is a big night for parties that can sometimes go too far.
The calendar smiled on us this year putting both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day on Mondays. That means long weekends and "extra weekend celebrating" as AAA Idaho spokesman Matthew Conde puts it.
He says AAA is asking people to be very thoughtful about what they do this year.
New Year’s especially is known for champagne and revelry. With good times and flowing drinks, Conde says impairment can sneak up. In 2015, there were just over 1,300 crashes across Idaho linked to impaired driving. Seven of those were deadly and about 1,000 resulted in serious injuries.
For stress-free travel on New Year’s, Conde has several suggestions.
"Use ridesharing if necessary, a cab, a friend," he says. "The designated driver is always a good idea. We just want people to be planning ahead so that if somebody had a tendency to get a little bit too celebratory that we have a plan to deal with that."
Being mindful of your limits and exercising common sense should also be considerations as we head into another holiday weekend.
For more local news, follow the KBSX newsroom on Twitter @KBSX915
Copyright 2017 Boise State Public Radio