AAA offers free tows for revelers

For drivers who have had to much to drink and don’t have a designated driver, AAA New Mexico will be offering its Tipsy Tow service on New Year’s Eve.

“AAA New Mexico encourages everyone, who is of legal drinking age and who plans to have alcoholic beverages to celebrate the New Year, to designate a sober driver, call for a cab or city approved ride sharing service, or plan an overnight stay before having their first drink,” AAA said in a news release. “As a last resort, AAA New Mexico will offer a free community service called Tipsy Tow, which aims to keep drinking drivers off the road.”

The service will be available from 6 p.m. today through 6 a.m. Sunday.

Drivers, bartenders, restaurant managers, party hosts or passengers of a drinking driver may call 1-800-222-4357 or 1-800-AAAHELP for a free tow home of up to 10 miles, AAA says. A regular AAA New Mexicocontracted roadside service truck will be dispatched. For rides farther than 10 miles, drivers should expect to pay the rate charged by the tow truck contractor. The passenger and tow truck driver should agree, prior to the tow, what the excess mileage charges will be and the method of payment.

You do not have to be a AAA member to use the Tipsy Tow service; however, it is only for a one-way, onetime ride for a driver and tow for that driver’s vehicle, AAA says.