Public Service Announcement

Here are some helpful tips and advice from focus group research on how people can get the keys away from a drunk driver:

If it is a close friend, try and use a soft, calm approach at first. Suggest to them that they’ve had too much to drink and it would be better if someone else drove or if they took a cab.
Be calm. Joke about it. Make light of it.
Try to make it sound like you are doing them a favor.
If it is somebody you don’t know well, speak to their friends and have them make an attempt to persuade them to hand over the keys. Usually they will listen.
If it’s a good friend, spouse, or significant other, tell them that if they insist on driving, you are not going with them. Suggest that you will call someone else for a ride, take a cab, or walk.
Locate their keys while they are preoccupied and take them away. Most likely, they will think they’ve lost them and will be forced to find another mode of transportation.
If possible, avoid embarrassing the person or being confrontational, particularly when dealing with men. This makes them appear vulnerable to alcohol and its effects.

Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk.
Pass It On.

MYTH MISCONCEPTIONS

"If I have too much to drink, I can drink a lot of coffee to sober up quickly. Right?"
Ha. Tell us another one! Drinking a lot of coffee after drinking too much alcohol may, however, increase your discomfort through the need to use the bathroom while being transported to the jail on DUI charges. Only time reverses impairment.

"Will eating breath mints after drinking fool a police 'breath test'"
Eating mints will not affect your BAC level since it isn't the smell of your breath, but the alcohol content, that's measured. Using breath mints, however, may earn you points with the arresting officer if you normally have bad breath.

"Well, at least eating breath mints might fool the officer, right?"
Ha. Sure, police are really fooled when they see a combination of erratic driving behavior and powerfully minty breath. Yep, that one fools us every time. Get real.

"I've heard preparing yourself by eating certain foods before an evening of heavy drinking will help keep your sober. Is that true?"
That story has been around since before your grandparents were born. The only relation we've seen between what you eat before drinking and your drunkenness is that the more you drink, the more likely we are to find what you ate on your shirt, or on the floorboard of the patrol car.

"Ok, but if I eat a BIG meal before drinking, won't that help keep me from getting drunk?"
How much you have eaten, and how recently, may have a small effect on how quickly or slowly the alcohol you consume will enter your bloodstream — but it won't stop the alcohol from entering. If you drink too much, you will become intoxicated. There may be, however, a direct correlation between the size of your meal and how much of your meal may be found later in patrol cars and jail cells.

"Will splashing cold water on my face or taking a cold shower help sober me up?"
Splash away! And by all means, take a cold shower. It may make you cleaner, but it won't sober you up or make you a safe driver. The deputies at the jail, however, prefer clean drunks and recommend showering prior to doing anything that will lead to your arrest, such as driving after you've been drinking.

"Will running around the block a few times sober me up enough to drive home?"
Exercise won't sober you up any faster, but feel free to run around the block as many times as you like. The deputies at the jail ask us to remind you to shower after your long run and before you drive a car.

"They were serving a spiked punch, but I couldn't even taste the alcohol in it. I can't be drunk!"
Party-goer, beware. Fruit juices have the ability to mask the taste of alcohol. A fruit "punch" can contain a substantial amount of alcohol without the taste of the alcohol being noticed — but it will make you just as drunk as alcohol which you can taste in another kind of drink. A mild-tasting cup of punch at a party may contain more alcohol than any normal drink you would buy at a bar.
Nothing sobers up a drinker except time.

Drive drunk, go to jail — it's that simple

Local police agencies are committed to keeping people safe on our highways, roads and streets. Very visible efforts, like increased patrols and sobriety checkpoints, help raise awareness of the dangers and penalties associated with drunken driving.

Drivers with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent will be arrested and prosecuted. A felony DUI conviction could have a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and the penalties increase if an alcohol-related crash results in another person's injury or death.

"Together We Can Make A Better Community"

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