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Published on Friday, November 21, 2003
in the Palatka Daily News
The holiday crash statistics in Putnam County are ugly.
Four people died last year from Thanksgiving though New Year's, Florida Highway Patrol figures show. The year before, three died. Alcohol played a part in 45 percent of the county's fatalities last year and 52 percent in 2001, the FHP said. Two years ago, Putnam ranked third among Florida counties in the per capita rate of alcohol-related crashes and fatalities, FHP records show.
In light of that, several community agencies are forging an alliance to help keep drunken drivers off the road this year. Representatives of the agencies gathered at the riverfront in downtown Palatka on Thursday to show a wrecked car and a hearse to illustrate the possible effects of drunken driving.
They include the Florida Highway Patrol, the Putnam County Health Department, a towing service, a taxi service, the sheriff's office, Palatka police and Flagg-Serenity Memorial Chapel. "You have to look at resources," said FHP Capt. Brent Coates. "We have limited resources. We'd like to make people aware."
The funeral home is offering free funerals to those who pre-register and happen to die in a drunken driving accident during the holidays, said Karl Flagg, Palatka mayor and director of the funeral home.
"It kind of drives home the point that it's a very serious thing," Coates said of Flagg's free funerals.
Agencies are encouraging people to designate a driver if they're planning to imbibe. Yellow Cab and law enforcement will give people a ride home from wherever they call to their destination, Coates said.
The health department is distributing recipes for the road, many of which consist of interesting ways to make nonalcoholic beverages.
Extra patrols will be on the road every Friday night between now and New Year's, Coates said. People who get caught with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher will automatically go to jail.
Coates passed out numerous phone numbers for agencies that will help people who are too impaired to drive during the holidays:
- The health department for recipes for the road, 326-3200.
- Flagg-Serenity Funeral Home, 312-0444.
- Two to Go through Johnson's Towing and Recovery, 328-4689.
- Yellow Cab, 326-0900.
Meanwhile the Putnam County Sheriff's Office is gearing up for life-saving plans of its own, sheriff's officials said Thursday. From Thanksgiving to New Year's, deputies will join with law enforcement across the state in an effort to reduce holiday traffic fatalities.
The effort is the first ever combined six-week specialized enforcement wave, focusing on apprehending impaired drivers and ticketing motorists who do not buckle up, sheriff's Capt. Rick Ryan said. The wave is a partnership with the state Department of Transportation safety belt and impaired driving programs.
The usual two-week campaign model has been extended this year to try to reduce the number of deaths and injuries due to deadly traffic mistakes: driving impaired and not buckling up, Ryan said.
Sheriff Taylor Douglas has assigned additional deputies, including a DUI specialist, to patrol county roads during the holiday season.
"As always, our goal is to save lives and we intend to make Putnam County as safe as possible through the holiday season, and we will do that through enforcement", Douglas said.