Residents of Plymouth should vote at the special election this Saturday (Jan. 13) as if their lives depended on it… because they do.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 2023, 37 people in the United States die in car crashes with an alcohol-impaired driver every day. This equates to one death every 39 minutes.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly a third (31 percent) of all traffic-related deaths are the direct result of alcohol impairment resulting in 13,384 deaths from drunk driving crashes in 2021 alone and that’s a 14 percent increase from 2020 data.
What if you or your loved one or a friend or a neighbor’s child or a colleague were to become part of these statistics?
Nips serve no purpose other than a quick drink and an easy way to get rid of the evidence. If the proponents (the liquor stores) are successful in overturning the vote taken in 2023 to ban nips, it won’t be just about the cost of the Special Election, but more important, it could also be about the cost of someone losing their life as a result of an alcohol impaired driver.
By voting yes for keeping Plymouth’s ban, data supports that there should be a reduction in the litter in Plymouth, which is also one of the gateways to the Cape. After all, the nips ban isn’t just about the dangers of drinking and driving. It’s also about the blight seen around the Town of Plymouth on many of the most traveled roads, including those leading to and from the Cape. There are nips and related litter everywhere!
Plymouth voters have the ability to protect their neighborhood, their environment, and their community. We hope you care about our community and our environment, too. You don’t need to protect the liquor stores; they will survive as they have always done. As an organization focused on making littering unacceptable in our society, we urge you to please vote yes to retain the nip ban on Jan. 13.
Meg Morris
Morris is co-founder of the Cape Cod Anti-Litter Coalition.