Tips to keep people from drinking and driving.

Drinking and driving is very dangerous, yet some people still do it. The following tips can help you to do your part by keeping someone who’s been drinking off the road. How you approach someone usually depends on how well you know them.

Say you’re paying for your gas at the store and the man in front of you opens up that 40oz soon as he walks outside the store. You see him chug half of it down in one swig. He then fumbles with his keys trying to find the right one. First, quickly memorize his license plate number, or at least the make and model of his vehicle. You could then either go back inside and inform the cashier, or you could use your cell phone and alert the cops. You could also try stalling the person. If they’re obviously already drunk and you want to risk it, you can try coming up with some excuse to look at at his keys and take them from him, so he’s not able to drive his vehicle away.

What if that person is someone from your office? Well then you might offer to drive them home, if they don’t accept, why not offer to drive them to a bar or somewhere else they would rather go. If they’re drinking at a party and you know they’ll be leaving, just snag their keys and hide them somewhere or give them to the cab driver you called for them. Worried about how you’ll get their keys? Why not offer them a trade, let them have that fresh drink in your hand if they’ll let you see their keys. You could always try calling their wife or another sober family member at home, and telling them that they’ll need to come pick up whomever it is that’s drunk.

What if it’s the holidays and old Uncle Bernie has had one to many glasses of eggnog. Offer to let him stay at your place, or drive him over there to show him that ‘prize bass’ that you caught, and don’t let him leave. Ask him for his keys so you can move his car to make room for that unexpected guest and just never give the keys back, or claim you forgot where you put them. If you think that’ll make him mad, just tell him you already gave them back if he asks! If he’s being particularly stubborn, slash one of his tires, and tell him he has a flat.

When it’s a friend who’s driving drunk it’s the hardest to stop them. When you first see that they’re drinking, ask them to hand their keys over. Maybe they might listen to you. Ask them to let you drive them wherever they need to go. Tell them you have a long night planned for them and they’re crashing at your place. You might have a spare key lying around somewhere. While they’re in the bathroom, go and ‘hide’ their vehicle somewhere, or block it in.

Don’t let ANYONE drink and drive, and do what you must to stop them. Just use good judgment, and encourage the person drinking to do so too. Know that they would do the same for you.