Saint Patrick’s Day is an Irish holiday honoring the life of Saint Patrick.
It’s also a holiday many spend celebrating with a variety of green beverages.
If you’d rather celebrate Saint Patrick’s day out with your friends than in the back of a cop car, Grand Traverse officers say there’s some things you should know.
“What we like do to on Saint Patrick’s Day is, we like to take additional resources from the Sheriff’s office out there that their only job will be to look for intoxicated drivers,” says Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Officer, Captain Chris Clark.
The amped up patrol is pulling over anyone acting drunk, Captain Clark says, both on and off the road; “Once we make contact with that driver we’re looking for poor balance, slurred speech, not being able to communicate effectively.”
However if you do celebrate with a few green beverages, programs like Bay Area Transportation Association (BATA), have safe transportation options.
BATA Communications Manager, Eric Lingaur comments, “Our link service that runs till midnight on Saint Patrick’s Day, you call up and you talk to our dispatch and they will schedule you a ride based on the time that you want to have transportation.”
Using safe transportation when celebrating is so important for not only your own life, but also the lives of others.
Captain Clark warns that if you drink and drive, “You’re gonna spend some time in jail and then you also have fines and then you have an impact on your driver’s license as well. Looking beyond the penalties is the potential to harm someone else, that’s even more important.”
Other safe ride ideas include , on call , and carpooling with friends.
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