New Year's Eve Safety Tips

In a few days we will be welcoming in 2018.  While I will be safely tucked way at home, I realize many people like to go out and send off the old year with a bang.  Here are some safety tips to make your New Year's Eve celebration enjoyable yet safe:

• Don't drink and drive.  If you plan to drink, take a taxi or Uber or Lyft or public transit to and from your destination.  And obviously plan ahead since thinking you will drive to a bar then get a ride home after you have been drinking rarely works out that way (drunk people always think they can drive and having their car with them is the slippery slope to a DUI or worse).
• Consider whether you should stay home based on the weather.  Many people around the country are dealing with frigid icy and snowy weather which can turn deadly for drivers (is going out to celebrate really worth risking life and limb to get to and from your celebration destination?).
• Go out with friends; hopefully at least one friend will remain relatively sober.  Personally I feel like if one wants to get rolling drunk they should do it at home and not in public but others don't feel that way,  At least if you go with friends (especially a sober friend) you will have someone to watch your back and head off any potential problems.
• Follow basic nightclub safety tips: always watch your drink (you don't want to get roofied), never accept a drink from anyone but a server or bartender (ditto), don't flash a lot of cash, pay attention to your surroundings when out and about and avoid secluded places, don't put yourself in a position of being a victim of sexual assault (ie: being drunk then wandering off with a stranger), get the money you will need for your night out during the daytime instead of at an ATM late at night on your way to the bar (these are excellent targets for robbery), always know where the exits of the club are, if the crowd is drunk and rowdy and people want to fight leave--don't engage with people who want to cause problems.
• If you are going to be celebrating with a large crowd, read up on crowd safety tips here and here.
• If you will be setting off fireworks to celebrate the new year, consider these fireworks safety tips.

The bottom line is to have a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve and no regrets on New Year's Day.