The North Carolina Department of Transportation is urging residents to use caution, plan ahead and drive safely this Super Bowl weekend.

With the mission of reducing the number of traffic crashes and fatalities in North Carolina, the Department has implemented a Governor’s Highway Safety Program. This program has created well-known driving safety initiatives such as “click it or ticket” and “booze it and lose it.”

Mark Ezzell is the director of the Highway Safety Program. He says that, along with Halloween and Cinco de Mayo, Super Bowl Sunday is one of the deadliest days of the year due to drunk driving.

“The upcoming Sunday game is not just a Super Bowl for football, it’s also a super bowl for impaired driving,” Ezzell said.

Ezzell said the program partners with local law enforcement throughout the state to educate and deter people from driving impaired. With the increased presence of alcohol this Super Bowl weekend, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood says his office will be out in full force patrolling the community.

“We will be out. We will have officers in marked and unconventional vehicles that are paying very close attention to the driving and looking for these violations as we go through this weekend – and hoping that we don’t find any,” Blackwood said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation says there were 10,511 traffic fatalities involving drunk drivers in 2018. Blackwood says even with these potentially deadly repercussions, people still don’t fully understand the ramifications of impaired driving.

“In the society we live in we often see folks with the ‘it’s not going to happen to me attitude,’” Blackwood said. “Until they have to go to court – if they’re lucky enough to survive the accident – and they’re charged with a DWI, it’s almost like ‘why is all this happening to me’ when we can go right back to the beginning and say ‘because you made this decision.’”

The Sherriff’s Office encourages the community to plan ahead when it comes to finding a ride home after an evening of drinking. They suggest using a ride-share app or calling a friend – but even then, there are other options.

“If you feel like you’re at a location and you cannot get home any other way, call us and we’ll come and get you and take you home,” Blackwood said. “I’d much rather have to do that than arrest you or worse take you to the hospital or go tell your family that you did not survive your crash.”

Photo courtesy of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

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