AAA Texas Offers Safe Alternative to Driving While Drunk

31 December 1999

AAA Texas Offers Safe Alternative to Driving While Drunk

    HOUSTON--Dec. 30, 1999--Tipsy Tow, a free tow and ride home for intoxicated individuals, will be provided by AAA Texas during the New Year's holiday for the 13th consecutive year.
    The Tipsy Tow program is designed to provide restaurants, bars and others an additional option that can be used to get drinking drivers off the street and home safely. The program is part of AAA Texas' effort to make Texas roads safer for all motorists.
    By using AAA's toll free number, 800/AAA-HELP, holiday hosts, bartenders, drivers or passengers can have a tow truck dispatched to take the holiday reveler and their vehicle home at little or no cost, depending on distance towed.
    "Drinking drivers frequently don't plan for other ways to get home, because they are concerned about retrieving their vehicle," said Patrick O'Reilly, AAA spokesman. "They cite the expense of taxis and time inconvenience as the major reasons they don't use alternative transportation. Tipsy Tow provides motorists with a safe ride home instead of driving while intoxicated."
    "People may think they know how much to drink and still stay in control, but it only takes a drink or two to slow physical and mental skills and affect vision, steering, braking, judgement and reaction time," added O'Reilly.
    Tipsy Tow is available now through midnight, Monday, Jan. 3, 2000. Towing is available to anybody in the Houston/Harris County area. The first 15 miles of a Tipsy Tow are free, and up to two people can ride with the towed vehicle. To arrange for a ride, call AAA Texas at 800/AAA-HELP.
    AAA Texas, an affiliate of the American Automobile Association, has been serving Texans since 1905. Today, AAA Texas offers its members a full service travel agency, financial services, public safety programs, and auto-related services.