Designated drivers on call

The Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention committee kicked off its Designated Drivers program last night, providing volunteer drivers who will transport intoxicated individuals home during the holiday season.

According to 3D vice chair Rose T. Ada-Hocog, a total of 52 drivers have volunteered to take part in this year’s program. Their services, however, require that they just pick up the individual and drop him or her off at the person’s home—with no other stops in between.

“We want this to be clear. Our drivers will only pick [intoxicated individuals] from the location they called from, and take them straight home. There won’t be any other destinations or stops along the way,” she said yesterday.

Ada-Hocog said individuals wanting to avail of the program may contact the Department of Public Safety Central at 664-9001/2.

“They must call DPS, put in their request, and that request will be relayed out to the drivers,” she said.

She said a uniformed officer will be dispatched to the location of the caller before the individual is picked up by the designated driver.

“The officer will go there, do a pat down and check the individual to make sure it’s safe for the designated driver,” she said.

Callers will also be required to sign a waiver form before setting foot in the vehicle.

Ada-Hocog said all designated drivers have already received instruction as to what to do when providing service.

3D ROADSIDE PLEA

The program’s Roadside Plea—featuring students, teachers, parents, and other supporters voicing messages against drunk and drugged driving—continued yesterday, with Student Council members headed by Sally Limes from Kagman Elementary School waving poster boards and signs to motorists passing by their station at the Santa Soledad area. Also joining in was Maria Chong Muna, a member of the school’s Parent Teacher Association.

“My daughter is a member of STUCO, and I just decided to join them,” Muna said. “The holiday season is coming up and it’s a worthy cause. We want our children and everyone to be safe through drivers being responsible and driving safely. We hope our message will get out.”

Another Roadside Plea featuring supporters from Tanapag Elementary School will be held on Nov. 30.

“We’re really appreciative of the efforts of students, teachers, parents, and supporters in helping us disseminate our message against drunk and drugged driving,” Ada-Hocog said. “We’re all trying to save lives and trying to have a safe holiday season.”

Other schools that participated in the Plea, which began last week, include Oleai, Koblerville Dan Dan, and San Antonio elementary schools, Hopwood Junior High School, and Marianas and Saipan Southern high schools.

San Vicente Elementary School would also take part next month.

LIFE SAVER BAGGING

Another activity is the 3D Life Saver Bagging scheduled to take place today and tomorrow at various outlets.

Today’s bagging will be held at the Joeten Hafa Adai Center from 10am to 1pm; Price Costco from 2pm to 4pm; and Dolphins Wholesale from 5pm to 7pm. Another will be held at the Joeten Hafa Adai Center tomorrow, Nov. 28 from 10am to 1pm.

Officers and volunteers from the Designated Drivers Program would assist grocery outlets in bagging purchased items. In the process, they would stuff bags with educational materials related to their campaign.

Also, Ada-Hocog said the 3D mini-fair originally scheduled for Dec. 3 has been moved to Dec. 10 at the Garapan Fishing Base.

Statistics provided by the DPS Traffic Section indicate that 254 DUI arrests were made in the first nine months this year, majority of which involved males. Also, 63 crashes involving DUI were recorded from January to August.

On average, DPS officers respond to nearly 30 DUI incidents a month.

Last year, 365 DUI cases were reported, 17 of which involved drivers under the age of 21, and 131 involving crashes. A total of 422 cases were reported in 2002, with 36 incidents involving drivers under 21 years old.

Statistics also indicate that 2,142 accidents were recorded from January to August this year, 89 cases or 4.3 percent higher than the number recorded last year, which totaled 2,053 in the first eight months.