Graduation, then summer. The kids’ big event, followed by long days and warm nights, a time to enjoy youth and freedom between the pressures of high school and college, a time — as Martha and the Vandellas sang in 1964 — for dancing in the streets.
Too often, it’s also the time for alcohol. As the hot weather spurs parties, cold beer and cocktails are seen as the order of the day. The cultural messengers — television, movies, pop music — all but scream it: parrrrrr-ty!
So, too, is it the season of drunken driving.
Just the past few warm weeks, the Ridgefield Police have seen an increase in arrests and accidents resulting from driving under the influence. Fortunately nobody was killed or seriously injured — so far.
May that remain so, please.
Ridgefield has not always been so lucky. Many in town still remember graduation night, 1983. An ill-advised alcohol-fueled party led to two deaths. A graduate was struck by a car and died. The driver, another graduate, took his own life later, away at college.
That tragedy prompted Ridgefield to begin organizing an alcohol-free party for seniors at the rec center on graduation night each year. That elaborate bash draws nearly all the kids, and keeps them sober and safe on graduation night.
But, as every worrying parent knows, there are other nights. Let’s have a safe graduation night, and then a safe summer, and a safe fall and a safe winter — let’s just keep everyone safe.
To do that, alcohol and driving must never mix — it’s as true for parents as it is for teens. Going to drink? Plan things so no driving’s involved, and nobody will be harmed. Stay in one place, sleep overnight.
Or, plan ahead and appoint a designated driver who will accept the responsibility — and the honor — of staying sober and getting everyone home safely.
If a friend is drunk and means to drive, take away the car keys — insist, don’t be talked out of it.
A night on the couch is far better than a death on the road.
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