It’s St. Patrick’s Day, a minor holiday that many people like to celebrate with a wee drop of green beer. But whether you have a drop of Irish blood or no, you’re cautioned not to get too carried away with the celebration.
Arlene Victor with the Dubuque and Jackson County chapter of MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. She says you should name a designated driver before you go out to drink, as people don’t make good choices once they’ve been drinking.
Victor says people may have the wrong impression about MADD, a group formed to remind people about making responsible choices. “We’re not prohibitionists,” Victor says, “we just ask people not to drink and drive.” She says the solution is to do your planning in advance, when the members of your party are still alert.
Ahead of time you can name that designated driver or call a taxi. Just arrange a safe ride home, as anybody who’s been drinking “has the potential to kill if they get behind the wheel.” Her two-county chapter in northeast Iowa does a lot of public speaking engagements.
Just last week they spoke to a group of fifty repeat drunk-driving offenders. She says they may have endangered thousands of people, when they were driving drunk as often as they did. Victor says MADD has some legislative priorities the members are rooting for this session, including registration of beer kegs, and increasing penalties for repeat drunk drivers.