Staying safe during New Years celebrations

As the end of 2024 draws near, it’s a good time to make the resolution to stay safe during the New Year celebrations.

“In the Twin Ports, we might not have quite the scale of a celebration like Times Square or a large metro location, but still just being aware of your surroundings, I think is very important. In this world now, we’re able to have everything on our phone and people sometimes get sucked into those devices quite a bit. So, one of the things we say is just to simply be aware,” said Wade Rasch, division commander at the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office.

Rasch says staying aware does not need to cause stress, and staying with a group can reduce the risk of harm.

“If something doesn’t feel right, trust your instincts and go with it,” said Rasch. “Generally, people go out to have a good time in a group. And what we see is when tragedy or bad things can happen is when there’s a separation there and somebody goes off on their own.”

If alcohol becomes involved at any event, making sure everyone involved has a safe and sober plan on getting home is of utmost importance.

“It’s the same holiday message that we’ve been preaching all along is with drinking and driving,” said Rasch. “It’s still unfortunately a problem. So, St. Louis County is among the top counties in the state continually for fatal accidents involving alcohol. So, we really want to continue to push the message out, of course, is to either have a designated driver or use a ride share app or arrange some type of sober ride,”

Lieutenant Mike Lee, with the Minnesota State Patrol says Minnesota is up 14 percent in traffic fatalities this year compared to 2023 – and 29 percent of those have contributing factors of alcohol.

“So, the last six weeks, weekends of the year, we partnered with about 300 other agencies to go out and do proactive DWI enforcement. And so far, we arrested about 1,237 DWI arrests. And as we know, the end of the year has not come yet. So, we have one more weekend ahead of us,” said Lee.

Even when staying safe yourself, making sure to be vigilant on the roads can protect you and others from potential accidents.

“Celebrate with your friends. Have a good time. Go out and do whatever. But we want people to get home safely. We don’t want people starting out the new year by making a bad decision. So, encourage people to plan ahead, plan for a sober ride. If you feel like you can’t drive, feel different, you drive different. Just be safe out there. Get home safely,” said Lee.

If you suspect someone of driving under the influence, call 911 and give as much information as possible without going out of your intended route. Do not intentionally follow the vehicle and remain a safe distance away.