To "tie one on" has typically meant to get drunk. But Mothers Against Drunk Driving is giving it a new meaning in its "Tie One On For Safety" campaign. It's asking drivers to tie a red ribbon to their vehicle as a reminder to everyone not to drink and drive during the holidays or any other time.
South Carolina has one of the highest rates in the nation of alcohol-related fatal crashes. More than 43 percent of all the people killed last year on South Carolina roads died in an alcohol-related collision. The number of DUI fatalities went up by more than 10 percent last year.
Part of the solution is increased enforcement, which SC Public Safety Director Mark Keel says will take place during the holidays. The Highway Patrol and local law enforcement used the "Sober or Slammer" campaign during the Labor Day holiday period. "We stepped up our DUI enforcement efforts and experienced a 25 percent reduction in fatalities during that 18-day period. That's proof that enforcement does make a difference," Keel says.
Jessica McNeil says she's angry that people are still drinking and driving after so many years of public safety campaigns, commercials, billboards and law enforcement efforts. Three years ago, she was driving on Highway 301 in Clarendon County with her then-20-month-old son in the car when they were hit by a drunken driver.
"Out of nowhere, all I could see was a red blur come into my side. And before I knew it, there was no time to react, no time to brake, swerve, none of that. And I was hit directly in my driver's side door. Car flipped over. The airbag knocked me unconscious," she says.
She and her son were not seriously injured, she says thanks to that airbag, her seat belt, her son's car seat and the grace of God.
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