Published on Saturday, December 31, 2005
in the Tallahassee Democrat

Be careful out there, folks

As we head into the three-day New Year's holiday, government agencies are urging Florida drivers to be cautious and avoid drinking and driving.

The winter season has already been especially deadly, with at least 19 people killed in accidents investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol over Christmas weekend; the agency does not usually work on routine crashes in more urban settings.

One of the crashes the Highway Patrol investigated caused the death of a Perry police officer, his wife and their 9-year-old son. The drunken teenager who ran into their SUV with his pickup was also killed.

If previous years are any indication, New Year's will be just as dangerous - especially since it's a three-day holiday, meaning more people on the roads, driving longer distances, according to Maj. Ernesto Duarte, a Highway Patrol spokesman.

Like the Christmas holiday, "it's a 72-hour period - it's likely we're going to see very similar traffic patterns," said Duarte, who urged drivers who have to be out after nightfall to be extra cautious, especially at intersections. "There's just too many people dying at the hands of impaired drivers."

To combat drunken driving, the agency paired up with police and sheriff's agencies Friday to beef up patrols and checkpoints. The statewide DUI enforcement initiative, Operation Lights for Life, also aims at remembering the victims of drunken driving, including 1,093 killed last year in Florida.

Statistics from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles show that alcohol is often a factor in New Year's holiday accidents, accounting for about half of the fatal crashes in 2003 and 2004. Last year's New Year's had the highest death rate of any holiday in the past five years, with 25 people killed over just 48 hours. Eleven of those fatalities were alcohol-related.