CELEBRATIONS Designated drivers deliver a new year Years ago, police often referred to New Year's Eve as 'amateur night.'

By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
ORKS-A-POPPIN'! FOR SOME Independent Taxi riders, New Year's Eve began at 2 p.m. today.
"We'll be totally swamped -- it's the busiest day of the year," said manager Barb Miller. "The calls won't stop until the next day -- it's unreal."
A lot of New Year's Eve partygoers began calling the downtown cab company Monday, making reservations for tonight. Some will leave home as early at 2 p.m. today and not require a ride home until the wee hours New Year's Day.
"They just don't want to drink and drive," Miller said.
In the midst of what Miller calls the New Year's "insanity," Independent drivers will still manage to get their regular customers to work.
A lot of Youngstown residents, she said, don't have cars. Others don't drive because of DUI convictions.
While most Independent customers want rides to and from house or hall parties in Austintown, Boardman -- wherever -- some will call from bars, realizing that after a night of celebrating with alcoholic beverages, driving isn't a good idea. Cab fare is a lot less expensive than the cost of a DUI, Miller said.
Limousine rides
"I wish all our nights were like this," said Lisa Ellis, general manager at FAB Limousines in Austintown. "We're completely booked."
Popular this year are limo coaches, which feature a living room setting for 18 to 20 people. There are also SUV limos, which seat 14 passengers; limos hold 10, Ellis said.
Some FAB customers are traveling to parties as far away as Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in W.Va., she said, while others will attend house parties locally. For those interested in bar hopping, FAB tries to limit the stops to three.
"It's much cheaper to chip in and rent a limo than chance a DUI," Ellis said.
Price to pay
For those who don't take a cab, use a limo or have a designated driver tonight and end up with a DUI outside Youngstown, the cost to bond out of the Mahoning County jail is $500 cash or surety.
In Youngstown, the DUI bond is $2,000 cash or surety, said Sheriff Randall A. Wellington.
The sheriff said his department isn't planning a DUI checkpoint for tonight but will increase patrols in the outlying areas and in the city for First Night, a family-oriented, alcohol-free event.
Deputies who stop impaired drivers will take them to the Ohio State Highway Patrol post in Canfield for a blood alcohol concentration test. The legal limit is .10.
"We'll arrest our share of drunks, but it's not like 25 years ago when you could expect the worst," said Lt. Brian Girts, commander at the patrol's Canfield post. Back then, troopers (and other law enforcement) called New Year's Eve "amateur night."
Girts remembers a time when New Year's meant so many drunks on the road that as quick as you wrote one up, you could start on another.
Over time, with education, New Year's partygoers' attitudes have changed, he said.
Fatal holidays
The worst drinking-and-driving holidays for fatal crashes remain Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day, Girts said.
Troopers will conduct saturation patrols for New Year's. Last year, during New Year's weekend, 12 died on Ohio roads, none of whom was wearing a seat belt.
Girts said this area -- Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties -- still remains lower than the state average of 71 percent in voluntary seat belt use. In Mahoning, the compliance is 59 percent; in Trumbull, 58 percent; and in Columbiana, 57 percent.
Girts believes the result is more fatalities.
Lt. Mark Milstead, commander of the Youngstown Police Department's accident investigation unit, said he'll have extra patrols throughout the city. No DUI checkpoints are planned.
Girts and Milstead agreed the prime time for drunken drivers is 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Milstead said Youngstown is unique in that it can have DUI arrests any night of the week, while other jurisdictions make most DUI arrests weekend nights.
meade@vindy.com