Preventing DUIs

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Editor,

 

It won’t surprise regular readers to learn that Laguna Beach has a high rate of DUI arrests.  Laguna Beach is a popular destination, and there’s nothing wrong with a legal adult having a few alcoholic beverages, as long as he or she isn’t driving.  Indeed, most of our local hotels and restaurants depend for their livelihood on this income, which leads to critical tax revenue for the city.

 

Laguna Beach funds its own police department. A lot of law enforcement time and money goes into patrolling the streets and running DUI checkpoints. It becomes a vicious cycle where a person might drink to the point of being impaired, and then get behind the wheel, only to be arrested by an officer whose salary was partially paid by the drinker.  It’s clear that the goal must be to prevent drunk driving – having a situation where drivers drive drunk and hoping to catch them before someone is hurt is a recipe for disaster. The preferred investment should be on prevention, not punishment.

 

It’s hard to keep out of town drivers from drinking and driving, but there are ways to limit drunk driving among our Laguna Beach citizens.  For residents of legal drinking age, the city is to be commended for offering a resident taxi voucher program.  For $3, a group of up to four people can take a cab ride between any two points within Laguna Beach.  Businesses should promote and encourage this option.

 

Unfortunately, many of the companies listed as program participants haven’t done a good job explaining the program to their drivers.  My vouchers have on more than one occasion been refused by a cab driver.  Another problem with the program is the companies that participate don’t seem to be the ones with the most cabs in town.  The voucher program is a great idea, but it just needs some help with the execution.

 

Another suggestion to prevent drunk driving is extending the hours of operation of the city shuttle. If the city shuttle ran until 10 p.m. more locals might go downtown, spending more money. Sunday service would also help residents retrieve cars left behind Saturday night, and even to go to the beach. Mozambique advertises their own local ride service to and from the restaurant.  Why not partner with restaurants to offer convenient shuttle hours? This would encourage business.

 

Tim Templeton, Laguna Beach

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1 COMMENT

  1. You hit it right on the nail… Now why does the city serve booze when they fully well know the customer has to drive home. It will end up costing the city more in the long run writing dui tickets than to help the customer get home with out a dui so they can keep paying their taxes & supporting the local biz. Once you get a dui, you stop going out for you can not get stop with one drink down you… So why go anywhere for dinner or for a cocktail.

    Sure people can say get a driver well it just doesnt work like that, for after work happy hour cocktails or dinner at night. And it cost way to much for a taxi fare at full price. So yes on the shuttles running till 10 p.m. Anything after that well a person needs to plan ahead for a 2 am night out on the town

    Charles

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