JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Transportation wants to help make sure you have a plan this holiday season to never drive impaired.

Keep spirits bright by keeping spirits off the roads. The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety is urging drivers to avoid driving impaired as they travel to and from holiday gatherings. Statewide, law enforcement will be on the lookout for substance-impaired drivers, with targeted enforcement efforts Dec. 15, 2021, to Jan. 1, 2022.

There were 61 people killed and 269 seriously injured in Missouri traffic crashes between Dec. 10, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2021. Fourteen of the fatalities and 44 of the serious injuries involved a substance-impaired driver.

“Hundreds of families’ lives were changed in an instant during what should be the most wonderful time of the year,” said Nicole Hood, MoDOT’s State Highway Safety and Traffic Engineer. “A safe ride is as easy as one phone call. Make a plan for a sober ride to avoid the tragic consequences of driving impaired.”

Those consequences include fines, jail time or even death. Missouri is on pace to see more than 1,000 fatalities on the highways in 2021, the most in 15 years. Have a plan to arrive to your holiday gatherings and home safely. If you plan to drink, don’t drive. Choose a designated driver, call a sober friend, order a rideshare or spend the night. But never drive impaired. If you feel different, you drive different.

Missouri’s strategic highway safety plan, Show-Me Zero, focuses on four ways every Missourian can help eliminate traffic deaths – buckle up, phone down, slow down and drive sober. For more information on the Show-Me Zero plan and to learn how all Missourians can help make the roadways safer, visit www.savemolives.com.