'Tis the season to stay safe, sober on the road

Try to book a party room and you'll soon find out -- the season for holiday office celebrations is in full swing.

It's great to get together with our co-workers, fellow club members, friends and families to celebrate the season.

How tragic it would be to end a happy evening with a trip to jail, the emergency room or the morgue. How much worse, even, to send another innocent human being to the latter two destinations.

But all too often, that is the result of overindulgence in alcohol.

While the number of alcohol-related fatalities during the holiday period is at an all time low -- down 34 percent since 1995 -- impaired driving is still a leading cause of death for people under the age of 30.

Yes, fatalities have declined, but in 2000, more than 16,000 people were killed and more than 300,000 injured as a result of alcohol-related crashes. The actual total 16,653 alcohol-related fatalities represents 40 percent of the total traffic fatalities for the year. That's one alcohol-related fatality every 32 minutes.

About three in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives.

In 2000, 31 percent of all traffic fatalities occurred in crashes in which at least one driver or nonoccupant had a blood alcohol content of .10 or greater. Nebraska recently lowered the maximum allowable BAC to 0.08.

The decline in fatalities can be attributed to a change in public attitude, thanks in no small part to tougher laws, sobriety checkpoint and saturation patrols which take nearly 1.5 million impaired drivers off America's highways each year.

No doubt, local and state law enforcement officials will be making a concentrated effort to get drunk drivers off the road this Christmas and New Years season.

But there is no reason for anyone to risk driving even a short distance after drinking too much. For the last several years, McCook has been home to a taxi cab service. Before that, service clubs offered rides home on traditional party nights.

But the time to think about getting home is before we have had our first drink. Use a designated driver, or if you are a teetotaler, offer to see your friend safely home.

Let's do our best to make sure this year's holiday season can be a time of celebration for everyone.