DUI Attorney Matthews Bark of Wintersprings | How to avoid a DUI as holiday patrols increase

Source    : bellinghamherald
By        : Doug Dahl
Category  :   Attorney Matthews Bark of Orlando

I know every month is national something-or-other month, but this one is legit: The president even signed a proclamation. December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. All year long, and especially in December, DUI prevention organizations work hard to educate people about the consequences of impaired driving.

Around here, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission goes a big step further and hires extra officers all over the state, and their entire job is to arrest impaired drivers.

But that doesn’t have to be you. It’s easier than ever to not get a DUI. There are so many options besides driving impaired: bus, taxi, ride-share apps, designated driver, your friend’s couch for the night.

I’ll give you another tool to avoid getting a DUI. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a free app called SaferRide. And it’s designed for drunk people to use. Once you get it set up (do that before drinking) the app has three big red buttons, all labeled in large font.

I think of the top button as designed for the person who is too impaired to drive but can still handle a conversation with a stranger. It’s labeled “Get Taxi.” If you press it, you’ll get list of taxi services, with phone numbers ready to dial, in another big red button.

I like to think the middle button is for the person who is either out of cash or drunk enough to need a good friend for a ride — someone who won’t get too mad if you ruin the upholstery. It’s labeled “Call Friend.”

The bottom button is handy for someone new to the area or someone so drunk that direction and location has lost all meaning. It’s labeled, “Where Am I?” It’ll give you a map and an address, which you can in turn give to your friend (middle button) or the taxi (top button).

Even though I find a bit of humor in the app, it makes a serious, even if unintentional, point. The designers felt that the appropriate tool for an impaired person consists entirely of three big red buttons with large font. Compare that to the complexities of driving a car. Coordination and decision-making skills can deteriorate after only a couple drinks. It just doesn’t make sense to pull out the car keys when you’re in a condition to only manage three red buttons.


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