Anoter New Year arrives tonight, and there are many things you can do to celebrate. You can prepare a feast and invite all the neighborhood cats. You can hold a square dance while doing your laundry. You can try to balance your checkbook in the shower. As odd as these combinations may sound, they all make more sense than drinking and driving. Sadly, though, that’s how many people will celebrate tonight – across the country and around the Mid-Mon Valley – greatly decreasing the odds that they will be around to enjoy 2002. The National Safety Council is predicting 533 deaths and 28,300 injuries due to traffic crashes during this New Year’s holiday period, evidence that too many still don’t understand that drinking and driving can be a lethal combination. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, there were 1,708 people killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes during last year’s holiday season, which ran from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. That period represented 39 percent of the total DUI-related deaths for the year. Of course, there are many ways to take the danger out of celebrating. MADD is offering free Safe Party Guides on its web site at www.madd.org, providing advice on how to be a responsible party host. Tips include having non-alcoholic drinks available for designated drivers, not allowing guests to mix their own drinks and never permitting guests who have consumed too much alcohol to drive home. It should be a simple message – if you’re drinking, don’t drive; if you’re driving, don’t drink. An alcohol-impaired person has no business operating an automobile. Too much control is needed and too many split-second decisions are required. So if you see somebody tonight who is too drunk to drive, take their keys and call them a cab. They may put up a fight, but at least they’ll still be around to thank you later. We wish all our readers a healthy and prosperous new year. We look forward to 12 more months of bringing you the important news and colorful stories that make life in the Mid-Mon Valley so enjoyable. But before we get started on 2002, we ask all of you to do us one favor tonight: Don’t drink and drive.

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