Resolve to ring in the New Year safely

The traditional “Auld Lang Syne” will be sung at many parties on this New Year’s Eve. What better way to ring in the new year than by recalling old friends and toasting new ones?

We encourage all New Year’s Eve revelers to toast their friends responsibly. If you are drinking, leave the driving to a sober person.

Drunken driving is illegal and has many consequences that not only include possible death or injury to the drunken driver, but also death or injury to anyone who has the misfortune of meeting them on the highway.

If you are hosting a New Year’s party with alcohol, be sure to offer guests plenty of water and other non-alcoholic beverages, as well as snacks and appetizers. A good host is also watchful of how much alcohol a guest has consumed, and is mindful to cut them off an hour before the party ends.

Law enforcement officials say most of the accidents that occur on New Year’s Eve are alcohol-related. That’s why the Tennessee Highway Patrol says it will step up its patrols this weekend.

Now is also the time to make resolutions for the New Year. We hope state lawmakers will resolve to finally approve the so-called “pass the bottle” bill to ban all open containers of alcohol in vehicles in Tennessee. While no driver may drink alcohol or possess an open container of an alcoholic beverage while operating a motor vehicle in Tennessee, passengers are allowed under state law to consume booze in that very same vehicle.

This loophole allows a driver to simply pass the bottle to a passenger if he or she is stopped by a law enforcement officer.

We urge state legislators to close this shameful loophole to the state’s DUI law.