Hillsborough girl whose sister was killed by drunk driver warns in opposition to driving impaired this Thanksgiving

TAMPA, Fla. – Journey specialists predict one other record-breaking journey weekend in Florida on Thanksgiving weekend.

AAA says greater than 4.5 million Floridians are anticipated to journey 50 miles or extra for the vacation.

Legislation enforcement companies across the state can have officers out in full power in search of impaired and distracted drivers.

“We can have additional enforcements out this complete weekend,” mentioned Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw,”Should you’re going to get behind the wheel impaired, you’re going to get pulled over, and also you’re going to be held accountable.”

One girl has made it her mission to make the roads a safer place, after her sister was hit and killed by an impaired driver 41 years in the past.

“Josie DiStefano Palomino,” Linda Unfried mentioned. “And, she truly had turned 41 on October 27. And on October 29, we have been celebrating my mother and father’ fifty fifth wedding ceremony anniversary.”

Unfried says her sister, Josie, was hit and killed in a crash in Hillsborough County.

“He proceeded to go down Waters at 80 miles an hour, going east,” Unfried mentioned. “She was coming west, and witnesses mentioned that she tried to keep away from it, and he crossed the road and hit her head on, and flipped her automotive 3 times.”

Since her sister’s dying, Unfried has devoted her life to educating the neighborhood and advocating for security on the roads with Hillsborough County’s chapter of Moms In opposition to Drunk Driving (MADD).

“When that occurs, it is like throwing an image down and shattering that cup,” Unfried mentioned.

Since her sister’s dying, Unfried has devoted her life to educating the neighborhood and advocating for safer roads by way of MADD. 

She says vacation weekends like Thanksgiving weekend could make for much more hazard out on the roads.

“It isn’t about being drunk,” she mentioned. It is about being impaired. Impairment kills.”

As one other yr passes, Unfried hopes that her work can assist hold different households from experiencing what her household skilled.

“I am nonetheless going to maintain going till we’ve no extra victims,” she mentioned. “I pray that sometime that would be the actuality.”

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AAA encourages folks to make use of designated drivers or ride-share providers when out celebrating the vacation.

Report Thanksgiving journey numbers are anticipated once more this yr all through Florida.

Should you’re in an emergency, officers with AAA say you’ll be able to name the Tow to Go program.

This system is out there to anybody, no matter whether or not you’re a AAA member.

“When folks name Tow To Go, we’ll dispatch a tow truck out to take the motive force and their automobile to a protected location inside a 10-mile radius,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins mentioned. “Now, we strongly encourage folks to make use of this program as a final resort. We anticipate to be very busy this week rescuing about 570,000 stranded motorists nationwide with every kind of vehicular breakdown points.”

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Over the past 25 years that this system has been in place, Jenkins says the Tow to Go program has responded to about 30,000 calls.

Tow to Go is energetic from 6 p.m. on Wednesday till 6 a.m. on Monday.

The quantity for Tow to Go is (855) 2-TOW-2-GO or (855) 286-9246.

AAA can be anticipating record-breaking journey numbers nationwide, with an estimated 79.9 vacationers this weekend.

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