Police Tips for Super Bowl Sunday

Montgomery County Police are encouraging everyone participating in Super Bowl parties to stay safe on Super Bowl Sunday. If you are watching the big game at a location other than your home, and you plan to drink alcohol, make sure you have a safe way to get home. Don’t Drive Drunk!

According to MADD, Super Bowl Sunday is one of the deadliest nights of the year for drunk driving fatalities. In 2011, 43 percent of all traffic fatalities on the day of the Super Bowl involved a drunk driver compared to 31 percent of total traffic fatalities for the year.

Whether you are hosting a Super Bowl party, going to one, or joining the crowd at your neighborhood bar, please keep the following tips in mind:

If hosting a Super Bowl party:

• Be responsible. Limiting your alcohol intake will allow you to better determine if a guest is fit to drive home.
• Offer non-alcoholic beverages for those guests who are driving or choose not to drink alcohol.
• Always serve food and water with alcohol. Food and water can help counter the effects of alcohol.
• Stop serving alcohol at the end of the 3^rd quarter of the game.
• Encourage all guests to have a designated driver.  A designated driver is a person who does not drink any alcohol, not the person who has had the least amount to drink.
• Make sure that any guest who has had too much to drink does not drive. If a friend is unfit to drive home, call a cab or offer the guest a room.

If driving to watch the big game:

• Don’t drink and drive!
• Before the game, decide who will be the sober designated driver and what that entails. The designated driver should be limited to non-alcoholic beverages.
• Save the number of a local cab company in your phone.
• Ensure everyone in the vehicle is wearing a seatbelt.
• Drive defensively…stay a safe distance behind and away from aggressive or impaired drivers. Immediately report those drivers to police.

Law Enforcement agencies throughout the region will be conducting drunk-driving prevention enforcement this weekend.  Montgomery County Police in conjunction with the Maryland Highway Safety Office will be conducting saturation patrols and retail establishment checks on Super Bowl Sunday from approximately 8 p.m. through 2 a.m. on February 4.

When you stay safe, everybody wins!

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