Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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Keep Safety in Mind for Super Bowl
Often the festivities include alcohol, leading to big problems with drinking and driving.
By Lauren Maxwell
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ANCHORAGE - For many people Super Bowl Sunday is a social event, a time to celebrate with family and friends. But often the festivities include alcohol, which police say leads to big problems with drinking and driving.

At the Peanut Farm Restaurant in Anchorage, the Super Bowl party starts early on Sunday.
Managers expect the first customers to arrive shortly after 10 a.m., and a pre-game fashion show at noon will attract even more. By the time the big game kicks off at 2 p.m. on CBS 11 and ends hours later, some customers could literally be drinking the day away.

“You have to slow down the service if they are drinking too fast,” said waitress Robin Hughes. “The game lasts three hours and you don’t want them to have it all in the first one. So we watch what they are doing and offer them stuff to eat. We make sure they are getting water in between.”

Servers will be keeping a close eye on their customers and so will police. Officers say many people don’t realize just how much alcohol they can consume over the course of an entire afternoon. And they say, once you have been drinking, it’s nearly impossible to assess whether you are fit to drive.

“Your judgment, your intelligence your inhibitions, all that goes out the window,” said long-time drug and alcohol counselor Andy Brennan. “So you make decisions about your sobriety and you probably drove to that party and you are going to go back in your car and drive home. You don’t realize how impaired you are.”

Police say the bottom line is pretty simple, if you are going to be consuming alcohol, don’t operate a vehicle. Make a plan to get home safely or don’t go out at all.

Police will be having extra patrols on Sunday and want to remind people that an OUI arrest can cost thousands of dollars and leave a permanent mark on your record.