Anchor:Thanksgiving is next week and for many it’s the start of the holiday season. But with the food and fun can also come danger, N-C-C’s Sam Carter went to find out about one program that Onondaga county is using to keep people safe.
Reporter: For some drinking and thanksgiving go together like… well turkey and Thanksgiving but one local organization wants people to be aware that drinking and driving ruin lives.
Marianne Angelillo: In that invincible mode where nothing is going to happen to me it’s just a short ride home. I trust this friend and no good decision really can be made under the influence.
Reporter: Marianne Angelillo knows first-hand what can happen when people drink and drive her son Matthew a star lacrosse player headed to the Air force Was killed when the driver of the car he was in who had been drinking crashed his sports car at over 100 miles an hour killing Mathew.
Reporter: Every year the day before thanksgiving is known as black Wednesday because its one of the busiest bar days of the year, its a chance for people to sit with old friends and reconnect over a drink. But, stop DWI Onondaga county says if your going to drink a bunch of these, you don’t want to be messing around with your car keys.
Barry Weiss: Seeing that people the awareness of oh I’m not getting behind the wheel, the awareness of I need to make a conscious decision before we go out who is going to drive home.
Reporter: apart from the programs offered by stop DWI which include victim impact panels and alcohol education Program Manager Barry Weiss says the stiff penalties for DWI are also a deterrent.
Barry Weiss: It can be anything from misdemeanor to pleading guilty to a felony and prison time.”>
Reporter: Marianne Angelillo says she’s hopeful that people today will stand up and say no more drinking and driving.
Marianne Angelillo: there is just no excuse for drinking and driving anymore because our culture has come up against it in a big way.
Reporter: According to Weiss in between 19-78 and 19-81, the year STOP DWI began there were almost 300 alcohol related driving deaths in the county. Now on average we have fewer than a dozen every year. Back to you guys in the studio.
Anchor: Onondaga County STOP DWI encourages people to have a plan and get a Lyft or an Uber if everyone in your party has been drinking.
Mathew Angelillo was the kind of kid you would see in a teen movie. He was handsome, a star lacrosse player, prom king and about to start college at the United States Air Force Academy.
All of that changed when a car he was riding in that was being driven by a drunk driver crashed at over 100 miles per hour, killing him. Marianne Angelillo, Matthew’s mother, said the mindset that led to her son’s death is all too common.
“That invincible mode where nothing is going to happen to me,” she said. “It’s just a short ride home, I trust this friend and no good decision really can be made under the influence.”
A program called STOP DWI is trying to make sure that no one else goes through the type of pain inflicted upon the Angelillos.
STOP DWI stands for “Special Traffic Operations Program for Driving While Impaired.” It is a statewide program whose goal is reducing road deaths involving drugs and alcohol.
The organization tries to do this through educational programs like victim panels. These panels allow people who were directly affected by drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol to tell their stories.
Barry Weiss, the program coordinator for Onondaga County, said the goal is to educate people to the point where they have a plan.
“Seeing that people have the awareness of ‘I’m not getting behind the wheel,'” he said. “The awareness of ‘I need to make a conscious decision before we go out who is going to drive home.'”
“There is just no excuse for drinking and driving anymore because our culture has come up against it in a big way,” she said.
STOP DWI Onondaga County suggests that people either make plans with friends or use ride-sharing services like Lyft or Uber to be sure they can have fun safely.
