Mothers Against Drunk Driving Urges Safety This Holiday Season

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is trying to raise awareness ahead of the busy holiday season, reminding people to plan for a safe ride home.

According to MADD, nearly three-fourths of adults say they've seen someone try to drive home after drinking too much at an event. MADD also says if you combine Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, nearly 700 drunken driving crashes happened where people were either hurt or killed.

So, this year marks MADD's 27th "Tie One On For Safety" red ribbon campaign, which urges those who plan on drinking over the holidays to use a designated driver.

One woman, Elisha, told her story at a press conference, saying her life changed forever when a drunk driver killed her fiancé Brian in a crash 7 years ago.

"After 4 excruciating days in the hospital, we as a family decided to remove life support and let him go when there was no chance he would recover. I then had to return his Christmas presents because it was too painful to have them sitting around the house," Elisha said.

The passenger in the drunk driver's car was killed on impact.

For more information on MADD, click here.