With New Year's upon us, it is ever more important to think about safety on the road.

The holiday season, between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, has a significantly higher number of drunk driving crashes, this according to MADD.org (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)

In 2006, MADD estimated about 1,000 people die during the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

This is due largely in part to the increased amount of alcohol consumption because of parties and holiday festivities. Also, more people are on the road during icy and rainy conditions going to these parties, shopping, and traveling.

In 2008, an estimated 11,773 people died in drunk driving related crashes. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that 32% of all fatal vehicle crashes during this year involved a driver impaired by alcohol.

The CDC also states that 1,347 children ages 0-14 were killed in vehicle crashes; about one out of every six of those accidents involved alcohol. Half of those children were riding with the impaired driver.

Local Emergency Medical Technician-Basic, David, who wishes to be referred to only by first name, has seen his fair share of tragic, alcohol-related crashes.

While he cannot be specific due to HIPPA laws, David says the hardest thing he's ever had to see was not the crash itself, but the result.

He and a co-worker had to pick up a 17-year-old boy who had been in a crash caused by a drunk driver, and take him to a nursing home.

David says the boy was now a quadriplegic and could no longer breathe on his own. The boy had been a very active and athletic kid before the accident.

"We were taking him to a nursing home where you know his friends are eventually going to forget about him, and it's just not where a 17 year old belongs," David said.

Not his entire job is tough David claims, though.

"One of the coolest things that I have done with the drinking and driving issue is be a part of DUI drills at local high schools," he said.

During this drills a reenactment of alcohol-related crashes is done using student volunteers.

"I think that in some ways the student actors are the most affected," David said. "We do everything as real as we can; at least one student dies and we usually leave the body where it is and cover it. Everyone else gets back-boarded. I've even done 'CPR' at one reenactment."

David says the goal of these drills is to show kids there are real consequences for their bad choices.

As a father of two, soon to be three, young children, David says he intends on telling his children the same thing his mother told him when his kids get older:

"If you do drink at a party, I will come pick you up at any time of the night. That doesn't mean you have permission to go drink, though," he said.

David says there are so many ways to avoid drinking and driving; it should not be an issue.

Although about 11,773 people died last year of alcohol-related crashes, the CDC states that about 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. "That's less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year," the CDC states on its website, http://www.cdc.gov.

Ways to avoid getting behind the wheel while intoxicated include calling a friend or family member to come pick you up, catching a taxi, or having a designated driver before you go out.

The cost of a taxi ride is considerably less than the possible $865-$5,000 fine you may face if you are caught drunk driving in the state of Washington for a first offense. This is in addition to possible jail time, the use of a home monitoring device, and license suspension.

Other consequences can include increased insurance rates, court costs, loss of one's job or home, car impound and/or towing fees, loss of license, community service time and also, possible death or injury of oneself or other people.

To find out more on the DUI laws of Washington, go to http://dui.drivinglaws.org/washington.php.