DRINKING & DRIVING

Get the Keys
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and The Advertising Council's Innocent Victims public service campaign emphasizes the need to intervene and Get the Keys away from someone about to drive drunk. Below are some helpful tips to get the keys away from a drunk driver

 How You Can Intervene

Below are some helpful tips to "Get the Keys" away from a drunk driver:

• If the person is a close friend, try and use a soft, calm approach at first. Suggest to them that they've had too much to drink and it would be better if someone else drove or if they took a cab.
  
  
• Be calm. Joke about it. Make light of it.
  
  
• Try to make it sound like you are doing them a favor.
  
  
• If the person is somebody you don't know well, speak to their friends and have them make an attempt to persuade them to hand over the keys. Usually they will listen.
  
  
• If the person is a good friend, spouse, or significant other, tell them that if they insist on driving, you are not going with them. Tell them that you will call someone else for a ride, take a cab, or walk.
  
  
• Locate the person's keys while they are preoccupied and take them away. Most likely, they will think they've lost their keys and will be forced to find another mode of transportation.
  
  
• If possible, avoid embarrassing the person or being confrontational. This makes them appear vulnerable to alcohol and its effects.