Holiday Safety Tips Series: Ring in New Year Safely

This is the last post in the Holiday Safety Tips Series for 2013 and we hope you have gained new and useful information or maybe just a refresher. While the last seven weeks of tips have been geared toward the holidays, they are useful throughout the year. Let’s close by having a fun and safe New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Eve  is a time of celebration, reflection and, for many of us, the eve of a fresh start for a new year with plans to meet goals that have been weighing on us. The very last thing you want weighing down on you in the new year is a court date or even worse, being responsible for hurting someone.  Celebrations should be enjoyable, not reckless abandon that results in you having no memory of the “fun” or living with a nightmare that you cannot forget.  Remember to make safety a habit and not a headache!

1. Don’t drink and drive! It is not worth it.  It is not worth your life, someone else’s life, being arrested, crashing your car, having your car impounded, going to court, paying for an attorney, probation, fines or having your driver’s license suspended.
2. Pace yourself when drinking and know your limits.  Where is the fun in being so intoxicated you don’t remember how you ended up in jail, how you ended up in the hospital or where you have been or what happened to you?
3. Find a safe way home or stay where you are at.  Just because you planned on walking does not make it safe if you are impaired.  Falling down in the street is unsafe and criminals will target you as easy prey.
4. Alcohol is not the only substance that impairs you.  Using marijuana, other controlled illegal substances or certain prescribed medications and driving is also dangerous and leads to all of the very same things listed in tip #1.
5. Don’t take a drink, a ride or anything else from someone you do not know or trust.
6. Go out with friends and look out for each other.
7. What goes up must come down to include bullets. Shooting a gun into the air for celebratory purposes is dangerous and illegal.
8. Combustible or explosive fireworks are prohibited in Decatur.  Here is the link to the city ordinance if you want to check on specific items http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=12110&stateId=10&stateName=Georgia
9. Know where your teens are.  Check to make sure they are where they are supposed to be. Share these safety tips with them - even as they roll their eyes at you.