You better have a designated driver if you’re drinking before or after the Georgia-Florida football game Saturday.
A DUI arrest will have you watching the game from a jail cell.
Georgia and Florida highway patrol officials are warning fans against drunk driving as they make the trek to EverBank Field in Jacksonville. This year, highway safety officials from both states teamed up to make a PSA to air in southeast Georgia, northeast Florida and on the field’s screens during the game.
“The stakes are always big when Georgia and Florida meet on the football field, but the stakes are even bigger when it comes to the threat drunk and drugged drivers pose on our roads,” Director of the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Harris Blackwood said in a news release. “We want everyone to make it to the game and make it home safely by not getting behind the wheel when they are legally too impaired to drive.”
During the week of last year’s annual rivalry game, the Georgia State Patrol made 42 DUI arrests in the southeastern part of the state.
Alcohol was a factor in a quarter of traffic-related deaths in Georgia and Florida last year, according to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. There were 368 alcohol-related deaths in Georgia and 841 in Florida.
“If alcohol will be in your party plans this Georgia-Florida weekend, designate your sober driver before the game begins and give that person your car keys,” Georgia Department of Public Safety Commissioner Colonel Mark McDonough said. “If you don't have a designated driver, ask a sober friend for a ride home. Call a cab, friend or family member to come get you. Or make plans to stay where you are for the night."
Georgia drivers are urged to download the Drive Sober app, which provides options for rides in areas throughout the state and dials the number of the designated driver for you.
“We may root for different teams, but we are on the same team when it comes to making the roads safe for everyone to drive,” Blackwood said.
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