NM commercial aimed at preventing DWI

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Bernalillo county officials are working hard on a new campaign to keep drunk drivers off the streets.

In these new commercials it is made to look like a typical night out and that's just the point.

The director wants these commercials to be as realistic as possible, to show what happens when people drink too much, from downing drinks at a night club, to the moment you decide to get in a car and go home.

That's when the commercials take it in two directions.

“One of them ends up with the person in the bar getting arrested by Bernalillo County sheriff's officers and the other person is more responsible they call the tavern…they have the bartender call the tavern taxi and they get a ride home,” Director Charlie O’Dowd said.

Tavern Taxi is the new name for the county's old Safe Ride Home program, offering free rides to those who've had too much to drink.

County officials say DWI and deadly crashes are getting worse.

“Last year to this year the spike in fatalities has been up 13 percent,” Substance Abuse Program Director Katrina Hotrum said. “We need to help put an end to that.”

O'dowd says that's one reason he decided to take on the task.

It's a major step up from the county's safe ride spots last year.

There will be three new commercials with the program's new name but the county will only pay for the price of one.

“In some ways this is a training situation, we have about seven professional film makers here and a whole bunch of students,” O’Dowd said.

The commercials are giving CNM students much needed hands-on training, which in turn might help save lives.

County officials say they changed the program's name because it was very similar to the name of another New Mexico program.

The program offers free rides for those too drunk to drive from bars on Friday and Saturday, and on holidays.