TPSD reverses personnel trend
June 17, 2014St. Pe’ event planned
June 17, 2014
A Lafourche Parish councilman said he plans to introduce a proposal that would have parish government provide a free designated-driver service to any intoxicated person, minors included, who needs a ride.
Lafourche Councilman Lindel Toups said he does not yet know how he would fund his idea or the details of its practicality, and he has not consulted with law-enforcement agencies. Toups asked the parish administration last week to research the legality of the dreamed service and said the proposal is among his top priorities.
“I’m going to bring it up every meeting until (the administration issues a report),” Toups said. “I want the whole council behind this.”
Toups’ nephew, 17-year-old Tyler Dufrene, was killed the night of his high-school graduation last month after a head-on car accident with a suspected drunken driver.
The Gheens councilman said a designated-driver program would improve public safety and thus should be considered a legitimate government function. Safety trumps financial questions attached to establishment of a long-term program, Toups said. “If you save one person’s life, you’ve paid it off,” he said.
Parish President Charlotte Randolph said her staff would review legal and liability questions and report back to the council.
Nationally, more than 10,000 people died in alcohol-related driving crashes in 2012, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Approximately 36 percent of the 671 traffic fatalities in Louisiana last year were related to alcohol, according to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office. Eleven of the 24 traffic fatalities in Lafourche last year were alcohol related. Deputies made 430 DWI arrests last year.
The lynchpin to Toups’ idea is that users would not be punished, even if they admit to underage drinking, which is why he said, for perception reasons at the very least, he doesn’t want law-enforcement agencies to be involved with a designated-driver service.
“I don’t want to scare the young kids,” Toups said. “I want them to be able to call somebody.”
Throughout various parts of the country, nonprofit and private organizations – including, of course, taxi companies – offer designated-driver services. In Slidell, Ashlee’s Angels was co-founded by a high-school student after she was severely injured in a car accident with a drunken driver. The service provided drivers for intoxicated clients.
Several companies offer car services in Lafourche Parish, but Toups said that’s not enough. “A lot of young kids don’t know how to get a taxi,” he said.
Although he’s still not sure how such a program would be implemented, Toups envisions at least one designated driver would be on-call in each of the parish’s three geographic regions.
Toups said the parish could find existing money to apply to the program. He also floated the in-vogue idea of hiking the parish’s occupancy tax. “There’s money available,” he said. “We just have to go ahead and find it.”
Many questions linger, such as whether taxpayer money could and should be used to offer a taxi service to intoxicated people, including some that may be in violation of the law.
Council Chairman Daniel Lorraine said he would give Toups’ proposal consideration but only after questions about its legality are answered, particularly as the idea relate to minors.
“Let’s be honest about the whole situation: They shouldn’t be drinking if they’re underage,” Lorraine said. “I know what he’s trying to do. He means well, but that’s a touchy situation right there.”
There are also issues of liability; specifically, the cost of insurance, and abstractly, whether drivers could be trusted not to violate the public’s trust.
District Attorney Cam Morvant II said Monday his office had not yet been asked to look into the legality of such a program.
Councilman Joe Fertitta said he agrees with the idea in principle but said it may ultimately be better suited for a community-led volunteer effort.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” he said, “but the logistics have to be worked out.”
Ultimately, Toups said, the program would give would-be drunken drivers a non-punitive outlet.
“I want to work with the kids,” Toups said. “We’re not working with our kids. We keep taking away, taking away, taking away, and we don’t give them nothing.”
Tyler Dufrene plays baseball. Dufrene was killed in a car accident with a suspected drunken driver last month. His uncle, a Lafourche Parish councilman, wants local government to commence a free service providing designated drivers to anyone in need.
