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New Year's Eve Safe Transportation Ideas  December 30, 2013 | WMFE--New Year's Eve festivities can turn tragic with drunk driving. These local options help with getting home safely. [Public domain photo courtesy of Robert Byron]
About 800 people die each year from alcohol-related road accidents in Florida. The numbers from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles also show 50 such deaths last year in Orange County alone. Crash rates rise in the midnight hour, so New Year’s Eve creates a deadly combination of drinking and driving at night. AAA Tow to Go To keep drunk drivers off the road, AAA’s regional Auto Club Group offers Tow to Go. From now through January 1, people can call 1-855-2-tow-2-go to get a free ride and tow within a 10-mile radius. Spokesperson Mark Jenkins says the program is a last resort and that it’s better to plan ahead. "Just make sure you have someone who’s not drinking to be your designated driver," he says. "If you don’t have that plan in place, maybe even have the number to a cab service programmed into your phone. That way, whenever the time comes that you need to get home, you’ve got that phone number right there. You can call them, and they’ll be able to pick you up." Be My DD Be My DD offers a paid designated driver system. More information is at bemydd.com. Buses Lynx buses run on their regular schedules for New Year’s Eve but switch to the Sunday schedule for the January 1 holiday. The city’s free bus, called LYMMO, runs only until 10 p.m. on December 31. UCF shuttles stop running before midnight on New Year’s Eve and do not operate on New Year’s Day. |
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