Party weekend: Police urge drivers to put safety first
If you plan to drive this St. Patrick's Day weekend, Las Vegas police want you to go easy on the green beer.
"Plan ahead. Party smart," Sgt. Todd Raybuck said Friday. "Make sure that you use designated drivers, call for a taxi or use the CAT bus to get home safely."
People also can call 456-RIDE to get a ride home in their own vehicles.
Statistics show that when a holiday falls on a Saturday, which it does this year, more fatal traffic accidents occur, Raybuck said.
He promised the party will end early for anyone who chooses to imbibe too much before getting behind the wheel. Officers will be out in force around the valley looking for drunken drivers.
"If you drink and drive this weekend, you will go to jail," Raybuck said.
Las Vegas police already have arrested 20 percent more people for driving under the influence this year over last thanks to stepped-up enforcement, he said.
Police are troubled over an increase in fatal crashes this year, including those involving pedestrians.
There have been 27 fatal accidents compared with 13 by this point last year. Seven of the accidents this year involved pedestrians, including two Friday. By this time last year, two of the fatal accidents involved pedestrians.
Also on Friday, the Nevada Department of Public Safety and the Lindsey Bennett Memorial Foundation kicked off an anti-DUI campaign at the Thomas & Mack Center, Cox Pavilion and Sam Boyd Stadium. The campaign features reflective signs at the venues' bathrooms with the words: "This could be you. Buzzed driving is drunk driving."
Lindsey Bennett, a 19-year-old UNLV student, died in a 2009 crash with a drunken driver who entered the freeway on an exit ramp.
Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at
lcurtis@reviewjournal.com.
