Auto Club, LAPD Join Forces To Combat Holiday DUI ” Ask Motorists To “Designate A Sober Driver” & “Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over” NA13224ne

What:
Media Availability
Auto Club, LAPD interviews, photos; b-roll of bartenders’ mocktail demo.  Bartenders: Fig & Olive-Chris Gonzalez; Roosevelt Hotel’s Library Bar -Sheena Leigh Graves.

When:
Thursday, December 12, 2013
9:00 a.m. till Noon

Where:
Auto Club’s Historic Headquarters,
2601 S. Figueroa Street (Adams/Figueroa)
Los Angeles, California 90007

Who:
Auto Club’s Traffic Safety Manager Anita Lorz Villagrana
LAPD West Traffic Division Sgt. Mark Guardado, DUI Task Force

Why:
The Automobile Club of Southern California will team with the LAPD to urge drivers to “Designate a Sober Driver” and “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” this holiday season.

They will urge the public to plan sober rides before gatherings where alcohol may be served.  The Auto Club will discuss its cost analysis of a first-time DUI conviction, pegged at $15,649 and related consequences.  LAPD will remind drivers that law enforcement will be out in force looking for drivers under the influence.

The Auto Club also will hand out 12,000 educational cards in LA and Orange counties via Roadside Assistance tow contractors that can be used by patrons at restaurants and bars. Cards have the DUI cost, a taxi number and a tipping chart on them.

To also help Southlanders with their holiday parties, bartenders from LA-area AAA Diamond-rated hot spots will demo and serve alcohol-free “mocktails.”

The LA bartenders’ mocktail recipes appear on the Auto Club’s Westways magazine web page at www.AAA.com//Westways.

Contacts:
Auto Club, Elaine Beno/Jeff Spring, 714-885-2324; day of cell: 714-514-2612.  LAPD Media Relations (213) 486-5910.