HALLOWEEN PLANNER
SAMPLE LETTER TO THE EDITOR
393 words

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Dear Editor:
Halloween is one of the most festive and entertaining holidays of the year for the entire family. Trick-or-treating, costume parties and haunted houses all add to the fun of the Halloween weekend.

However, in recent years, Halloween has also become a time for party-goers to drive while impaired, which can turn the festivities into a real-life nightmare.

Since Halloween falls on a Monday this year, dedicated Halloween partiers will be out in full force, beginning their partying the weekend before. This makes the Halloween weekend a very dangerous time on our nation’s roads because of impaired drivers who fail to designate a sober driver.

In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 53 percent of all highway fatalities at Halloween in 2003 were alcohol-related -- and 45 percent of the total fatalities involved a drunk driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level of 0.08 or higher -- the legal limit in every state and the District of Columbia.

Real-life Halloween nightmares are simple to avoid if you remember to take a few important steps in planning for your Halloween weekend:

• Be responsible and never drive impaired.
  
  
• If you plan to drink, choose your sober driver before going out.
  
  
• Once impaired, use mass transit, call a cab or ask a sober friend to get you home.
  
  
• If all else fails, just stay where you are and sleep it off.
  
  
• Always buckle up – it’s still your best defense against an impaired driver.
  
  
• If you are hosting a Halloween party, make sure all of your guests leave with a sober driver.

Plan ahead. Do not fall into the age-old trap that “It will never happen to me.” It can happen. It has happened. It will happen.

Statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 2004 show that nearly 13,000 people died in highway crashes involving a driver or a motorcycle operator with an illegal blood alcohol concentration level of 0.08 or higher. Drinking and driving while impaired is simply not worth the risk of killing yourself or someone else, or the hassles and expenses sure to come from a crash or arrest.

Don’t let your Halloween turn into a nightmare. Please plan ahead, be responsible and always designate a sober driver before all Halloween festivities. Remember, Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk.

Name, address and phone number. The newspaper must have these to verify the identity of the sender, but won’t print the street address or phone number.

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