Police, other groups try to curb the rise of drunk driving ahead of big football weekend
EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (WJAR) — Police and other groups joined forces on Thursday to speak out against drunk driving during the big football weekend.
The championship game is nearly a holiday in America and is considered a big day for drinking.
On Thursday MADD, AAA, and the President of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association were among the groups who held a briefing discouraging the dangerous practice of driving while impaired.
“The play is to get home safely on the snap. Everyone here is on the same time we have the same goal and our goal is zero. Zero fatalities zero injures and zero impaired driving crashes," said Wesley Pennington with MADD RI and a West Warwick High School football coach.
In a release, AAA Northeast called the championship game Sunday of the biggest drinking days of the year, and its statistics showed an increase in drunk driving incidents.
“Tragedy doesn’t play favorites. It’s doesn’t care how old you are. It doesn’t care what generation you are in. A poor game plan can lead to a tragedy," said Cathy Andreozzi, Director of the Tori Lynn Andreozzi Foundation.
Officials are asking people to plan a safe ride home with a designated driver or a ride share app, take the keys away from someone who is impaired and to not serve alcohol to people under 21.
Many of those at the briefing have been directly impacted by drunk driving. A few months ago Tori Andreozzi passed away, she was severely injured by a drunk driver two decades ago.
NBC 10's Katie Benoit contributed to this report.