Police departments are preparing for increased drunk driving enforcement as families plan for holiday travel, and many make plans for parties around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve. This is the 15th year for Dallas County's "End the Night Right" campaign.
"We know how important it is for people to be educated about the dangers of drunk driving," says Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia.
Garcia organizes the campaign and works with police departments and MADD to urge people who plan to drink to also plan ahead for a sober ride. She says 39 bars and restaurants also participated last year; this year, she says more than 100 businesses have joined.
"We never say, 'don't drink,'" she says. "What we recommend is don't drink and drive. It's a bad choice."
At a launch for the campaign this week at the Grand Prairie Police Department, Mayor Ron Jensen said ride-share apps give people more options to get home safely. Grand Prairie, Arlington and Fort Worth also offer different types of service with the rideshare service, Via.
"If you know you're going to drink, plan ahead," Jensen said. "Call a friend. Every year, I have a mayor's teen council. I just spoke with them, and I told them this: Don't do something stupid to prevent you from being who you want to be ten years from today."
Jensen said a city employee's daughter was just released after spending seven years in prison for a drunk driving crash. In 1982, Grand Prairie Police Officer Lyndon King was hit and killed by a drunk driver while working at a crash scene on I-30.
"Our officers are tired of having to look in the eyes of innocent people and tell them a person they hold most dear in this world is never coming home because of a selfish drunk," Jensen said. "This is personal for us."
Bars and restaurants participating in the campaign across Dallas County will have QR codes where people can get discounts of up to $20 from Lyft.
TxDOT says 22,737 crashes involving alcohol occured across Texas in 2024 including 1,945 in Dallas County. Dallas had the second most total crashes behind Harris County, where Houston is located. Of crashes across Texas, 932 were fatal, killing a total of 1,053 people.
In August, Eddie Jimenez said a drunk driver going up to 100 miles an hour lost control, went airborne and hit his car as he drove from a party with his kids and their friends between the ages of seven and 14.
"She killed my son and my neighbor's son. I sat inches away from them that evening, and I couldn't save them. I couldn't do anything. It was somebody else's choice that changed their lives. It was somebody else's choice that took away their future," Jimenez said.
More information about Dallas County's campaign and a link to get a code from Lyft are available at https://www.endthenightright.com/. The campaign starts November 24 and runs through January 4, 2026.