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AAA Hawaii is offering its Tipsy Tow service during the New Year’s holiday to give drinking drivers free tows and rides home.
The service will be available from 6 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday in areas served by AAA Hawaii.
Motorists, bartenders, restaurant managers, party hosts or passengers of a drinking driver can call (800) 222-4357 and say they need a Tipsy Tow for a free tow home of up to 5 miles. A regular AAA Hawaii-contracted roadside assistance service truck will be dispatched.
The service is unique, providing drivers with a safe ride home for themselves and their vehicles instead of driving while intoxicated, according to AAA Hawaii.
The service excludes rides for passengers and is restricted to a one-way, one-time ride for the driver, with the destination limited to the driver’s residence. Reservations are not accepted. Drivers can expect to pay the rate charged by the tow truck contractor for rides farther than 5 miles.
“We want motorists to be aware of the high crash risk from drinking and driving associated with the holiday and encourage them to think twice about getting behind the wheel if they have been drinking,” said AAA Hawaii General Manager Liane Sumida.
In 2013, crashes involving drunken drivers killed 10,076 people and accounted for 31 percent of the motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
The company encourages partygoers to plan ahead for a sober ride or use a designated driver if attending a New Year’s Eve gathering.
“It takes only one or two drinks to slow physical and mental skills and affect vision, steering, braking, judgment and reaction time,” Sumida said. “Drivers should be aware that the law enforcement agencies are using extra patrols to look for drinking drivers during the holiday.”