Don’t drive drunk. Get a free tow home on New Year’s Eve from AAA and Budweiser
New Year’s Eve is well known as a bad time to drive. AAA called it “the deadliest holiday on U.S. roadways.”
That’s why the national car club is offering a free tow home to drivers who otherwise would drive drunk. The “Tow to Go” service, offered in partnership with Budweiser this year, is available to anyone, whether they’re an AAA member or not.
A call to AAA on New Year’s Eve gets you a tow (and a ride) home, or to a safe place, within a 10 mile radius. The service has been around since 1998 and has given more than 25,000 drunk drivers a safe way home.
“New Year’s Eve is by far the busiest holiday for Tow To Go,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA — The Auto Club Group, said in a prepared statement. “Although we offer this service for all major holidays, half of our calls occur the night of New Year’s Eve.”
Last year, drunk driving was responsible for nearly one-third of all driving deaths nationwide. In total, drunk driving killed 10,511 people, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
New Year’s Eve is particularly deadly. An analysis from Safer America found that more than a thousand people were killed in car crashes in the U.S. on New Year’s Eve or Day from 2013 to 2018. About 340 of those crashes involved drunk drivers.
Florida had the second most fatalities of any state, with 178 deaths. Drunk drivers were behind 39 of those deaths.
The Sunshine State also ranked high on the state-by-state breakdown, with an average of 1.14 fatal crashes per 100,000 licensed drivers. At 1.44, Mississippi was ranked as the deadliest state when averaged for population.
Miami-Dade saw 13 deaths on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in the study period, and Broward had 12.
The study also found the deadliest time on the road was between 2 and 3 a.m. on New Year’s Eve.
To request service call 855-2-TOW-2-GO or 855-286-9246 or check out AAA.com/TwoToGo for more information.
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 7:45 AM.