New Years Eve Safety Tips

CHARLOTTE – New Years Eve, a night for celebrating all the successes of the past year and looking forward to the coming one.

In Uptown, Captain Stephen Fischbach with CMPD says more than 5,000 people will be celebrating the arrival of 2024 in the heart of the Queen City.

“There’s a lot of preparation goes into place,” he says. “We are going to have to close off certain roadways and we are going to be prepared. We’re going to have both on duty and off duty officers working the event in multiple capacities, officers on foot, officers on bicycles and on dual sports.”

Fischbach also wants to remind everyone of the importance of safe celebrating and being smart once the party ends.

“Tipsy driving is drunk driving and our officers are going to be out in full force that night, making sure that we have safe roadways,” he says.

Across the state line in South Carolina, highway patrol is already preparing for the weekend. Master Trooper Gary Miller says the new year law enforcement period started Friday night and will run through Monday.

“If we can, you know, get people to realize that drinking and driving is not an accident,” Miller says, “you know, it’s an intentionally going out to party and then knowingly getting behind the wheel and going home. Don’t do that. There’s no excuse for it. There are too many alternatives to getting behind the wheel.”

Trooper Miller says checkpoints will be located across the state, not just looking for drunk drivers, but also seat belt violations and speeding.

“Nobody knows at this point in time who’s going to be the last one to die on South Carolina roadways in 2023 or who’s going to be the first one to die in 2024,” he says. “So, if we can get people just to pay attention, change their driving behavior, be a little safer, and hopefully we can end our year and start our new year on a good note.”