CLEVELAND – Impaired drivers in Cuyahoga County will be seeing flashing red lights in their rear-view mirrors from Dec. 14 to Jan. 4—but it won’t be Santa or Rudolph: 45 law enforcement agencies will participate in a countywide effort coordinated by the Cuyahoga County DUI Task Force to take impaired drivers off our roads.
While police will be out in force to stop impaired drivers before they can hurt themselves or someone else, we all know that the best way to prevent impaired driving crashes is to keep people from getting behind the wheel after they have been drinking. To stress safe traveling alternatives for the holidays, the Cuyahoga County DUI Task Force and Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, in partnership with MADD, the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association and Liberty Mutual Insurance, are unveiling a new line of ‘designated driver action figures’ at a press event at the Grand Staircase stage at Tower City at 12 p.m. on Monday, December 17.
“A designated driver is one of the best gifts you can get—or receive—this holiday season,” notes Michael Farrell, President of Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. “When we think of children being hurt by drunk drivers, we usually envision a stranger’s car coming out of nowhere to strike the family minivan, but the reality is that when children are injured or killed in impaired driving crashes, they are usually riding with the impaired driver.”
To demonstrate that keeping our families and communities safe from impaired drivers begins with each of us, an array of average Clevelanders will be on hand to serve as everyday heroes—taking their places in life-sized Designated Driver Action Figure boxes that will be unveiled during the event. “Red-nosed reindeers can save Christmas, but red-nosed drivers can ruin the season,” says Kathryn Wesolowski, Injury Prevention Manager at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and Project Director for the Cuyahoga County DUI Task Force. “Every one of us plays a role in savings lives on our roads. It’s up to you to make smart plans for a safe and sober ride.”
While only 6% of motor vehicle crashes in Cuyahoga County during 2006 were alcohol-related, more than 1 in every 3 traffic crash deaths were alcohol-related. Last year 2,875 people were injured and 34 were killed on Ohio roadways during the holiday travel period (Dec. 23 to Jan 2); more than half of all fatalities were alcohol related. “Police departments throughout the county are working together to crack down on drunk driving,” said Captain Thomas Brickman of the Euclid Police Department. “Wherever your celebrations take you this holiday season—whether it’s dinner at Grandma’s or your office holiday party—there will be no safe place in Cuyahoga County for impaired partygoers who make the irresponsible decision to get behind the wheel.”