Working to make Fiesta Safer

Written by Grace Stafford, San Antonio Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse

The Battle of the Flowers and other Fiesta events have been traditions in the city of San Antonio for over 100 years. In the early days the events were marked by flowers, carriages and royalty. While the flowers and royalty are still a big part of Fiesta, recent years have brought a more negative image - that of a drunken party that occasionally results in crime, specifically drunk driving. This is not an image that San Antonio, and especially the Fiesta Commission, wants to project. While no DWI accidents have been specifically attributed to Fiesta events in the past 10 years, as the San Antonio Express News noted Monday, April is usually the deadliest month of the year when it comes to alcohol related traffic fatalities.
With that in mind several initiatives have gone into effect to prevent the alcohol related crimes that occur during the weeks of Fiesta. For the second year in a row the Fiesta Commission is offering seating along the parade route in zones that are designated as alcohol and tobacco free, giving families the opportunity to enjoy the parades without subjecting their children to negative influences. If you are interested in purchasing tickets in the alcohol and tobacco free sections (Sections 14 and 22) visit fiesta-sa.org. On top of public service announcements and other marketing tools aimed at discouraging drunk driving this spring, the Texas Department of Transportation has worked with local businesses and prevention organizations to organize 1,000 free cab rides for those who are too drunk to drive. The Fiesta Commission has been active year round encouraging the message of prevention, supporting events during Red Ribbon week, and establishing a Fiesta Prevention day on April 12th where students and families can pick up materials from local organizations and participate in activities encouraging healthy choices.
On top of the prevention efforts, law enforcement will be present at Fiesta events ensuring that minors and those who are already drunk are not served.  Chief McManus and District Attorney Susan Reed have spoken frequently on the importance of DWI enforcement year round. Over the next few weeks law enforcement officers will be on high alert, looking for signs of distracted and drunk driving all over the city to pick up offenders before an innocent citizen pays the price for someone else’s drunken decisions.
According to the San Antonio Express News, when discussing the DWI problem Mayor Julian Castro said, “I think the key is for folks to take personal responsibility and for vendors of Fiesta to take seriously their responsibility not to serve folks who appear intoxicated.” I agree with the Mayor that no one is forcing these individuals to drink heavily, or to get behind the wheel when intoxicated, but I am encouraged by the efforts made by the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and the Fiesta Commission to prevent the risky behavior that leads to poor decision making and accidental injury or death. I look forward to seeing the image of Fiesta return to the glamorous image of its origin rather than being connected with a month of drunken mistakes.
For more information, watch Bill Drain Rey Feo LXIII and Chairman of the Bexar County DWI Taskforce Detective Mike Davis discuss DWI prevention and Fiesta’s push to reduce drunk driving during April