“New Year’s Eve, we think of maybe Memorial Day or something like that, but Halloween is certainly rising to the top, and being in the top 10 is not someplace that Arkansas wants to be. – it’s all preventable,” Teresa Belew, a volunteer at Mothers Against Distracted Driving, said.
With Halloween falling midweek, festivities including parties and trick-or-treating have already started and will continue through the weekend prompting concern as to the safety of motorists on the roadways.
“Do not let the scariest thing happen to you this Halloween be an encounter with a drunk driver,” Belew cautioned. “Adults like to dress up, they have an occasion to do that over Halloween, and along with that comes celebrating with alcohol which is fine so long as you designate a driver.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2022, someone died in a drunk driving accident every 39 minutes across the country. In Arkansas alone, 185 lives were lost to drunk driving crashes last year.
Belew recalled a tragic Halloween incident from 2013: “Drunk herself, do I think that she got up and said, ‘Well I think I’ll go out on Halloween evening, have my kids with me and run into a crowd of children,’ no I don’t think she did,” Belew said.
She emphasizes the importance of not getting behind the wheel after drinking. “You are not just putting your life in danger but so many others,” Belew said. “It’s preventable. Take an Uber, find a friend, stay there.”
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