New Year’s Eve is one time of the year when it’s easy to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. The scenario goes like this: You’re partying out at the lake and realize soon after the midnight ball drops that you’ve had too much to drink.
You could try for a cab, which could cost $75 to $100 to Truckee, but on the busiest night of the year, it’s almost impossible to find one. You could get a room, which could cost two or three times as much, if one is available. Or you could hop in your car and roll the dice.
That’s a gamble that one in seven drivers choose to take during the holiday season, says Pete Mann, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol’s Truckee division. If you get caught, a DUI could cost as much as $10,000.
“A cab ride is pennies in comparison,” Mann says. “Alcohol works like an interest rate; it compounds.”
By the time someone realizes he or she has had too much to drink, it could take hours to metabolize back to sobriety. He says the average rate of alcohol a person burns off is just .02 percent, and for women it’s slightly lower.
Every 15 minutes someone in the U.S. is killed by a drunk driver, and Mann says CHP sees a spike in DUI arrests throughout the holiday season.
His advice is to plan ahead.
Tahoe Area Rapid Transit is offering its free Night Rider service with buses running past midnight in many locations. And some cab companies will take reservations well in advance of New Year’s.
“We have so many people and so few cabs that if you wait to call until 1 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, it’s going to be nearly impossible to get one,” says Saer White, owner of High Sierra Taxi.
If he has enough partygoers booking in advance, White says he will consider organizing shuttles to various neighborhoods to supplement the seven cabs he’s got working New Year’s Eve.
In California, DUI arrests were down 15 percent in 2011 from the year before, Mann reports, a fact he attributes to public education and a generational change in thinking about the risks of driving drunk. With a grant for roving patrol, he predicts Tahoe drivers will see a stronger police presence on the roads and highways this holiday season.
Info: TART stops & schedules, (866) 216-5222; High Sierra Taxi, (530) 559-8872 or (530) 412-1927; Bluebird Taxi of Truckee, (530) 414-1547
