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Planning, not luck of the Irish, will get you home safe

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is taking to Twitter on Wednesday pressing for safe St. Patrick's Day celebrations with a special focus this year on the use of designated drivers to get revelers home safely.

Locally, Rochester Police Capt. Gary Boudreau said St. Patrick's Day can be very challenging for police because of the "types of festivities" that surround us.

He said beyond the normal police presence, Rochester has two officers dedicated to vehicle safety and there could be extra patrols to identify impaired drivers on Thursday night into early Friday morning.

The holiday may focus on lifting a glass, but the consequential statistics are sobering.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, during the 2014 St. Patrick's Day holiday period, 6 p.m. March 16 through 5:59 a.m. March 18, more than 28 percent of all motor vehicle crash fatalities involved drunken drivers.

Alcohol plays an even bigger role in the early hours of March 18, 2014, when between midnight and 5:59 a.m., nearly half of all crash fatalities involved drunken drivers.

In fact, from 2010 to 2014, almost three-fourths of the drunk-driving fatalities during this holiday period involved drivers who had alcohol levels well above the 0.08 percent legal limit, with 266 drunk-driving fatalities total.

This year the NHTSA is urging celebrants to plan ahead for a sober ride home after the partying and alternately, urging hosts to make arrangements for guests to spend the night and collect keys at the door.

Another theme this year is for celebrants to recognize that buzzed driving is drunk driving and can be just ad deadly.

To help spread the word, the federal agency is inviting social media to join them on Twitter chat on Wednesday from 3-4 p.m. where they will provide stats and information on buzzed driving prevention. Experts will be available to answer questions while Twitter users are able to spread the word and encourage followers to plan ahead and not drive buzzed.

To get started check out www.twitter.com/NHTSAgov on Wednesday afternoon.
Participants are asked to follow the conversation using the hashtag ‪#‎BuzzedDriving and urged to mention @NHTSAgov in any tweets. They will then get back to as many questions and comments as they can.

#BuzzedDriving should be listed in comments so others can follow along the conversation.
Anyone who can't find a designated driver and finds themselves buzzed can still play it safe and get a taxi, said Rob Nagy, manager of Lilac City Taxi.

Nagy said he'll have three taxis in service on Thursday night instead of the normal one. He said they normally stay out till 11 p.m. or so, but would be answering calls till probably 2 a.m.

A typical cost from Rochester to downtown Milton or Trains in East Lebanon is $15 bucks, a small price to pay to stay safe.

"I always say, "Think before you drink," said Nagy, saying folks can call him anytime to reserve a ride.

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