AAA Texas Offers Free Tipsy Tow Service for Independence Day Weekend.

News Editors/Travel Writers

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2003

AAA Texas is offering its free Tipsy Tow service to drivers who drink during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The service is available from 6 PM on Thursday, July 3rd, until midnight Sunday, July 6th, throughout Texas.

The Tipsy Tow program, now in its 17th year, is designed to provide drivers with a way to get home safely if they have been drinking. The first ten miles are free.

Here is how it works:

-- Drivers, holiday hosts and bartenders simply dial AAA Texas'

toll free number at 1-800-AAA-HELP or 1-800-222-4357 to

request Tipsy Tow service.

-- AAA Texas dispatches a tow truck and;

-- The driver is driven -- and the vehicle towed -- home for free

up to 10 miles (up to 2 people can ride in the tow truck).

Callers need to keep in mind that the service is restricted to a one-way, one-time ride for the driver and the destination is limited to the driver's residence. Reservations are not accepted. Drivers can expect to pay the rate charged by the tow truck contractor for rides farther than ten miles.

Independence Day is a traditional time for excursions, parties, trips to the beach, backyard picnics and barbecues, activities that contribute to a more relaxed atmosphere and more drinking, according to Rose Rougeau, spokesperson for AAA Texas.

"It takes only one or two drinks to slow physical and mental skills and affect vision, steering, braking, judgment and reaction time," said Rougeau. "We hope drivers will utilize our Tipsy Tow service or have a designated driver to make the roadways safer."

While the number of Texans arrested for driving under the influence in 2001 (the latest figures available), is nearly five percent lower than the previous year, it is still disturbingly high -- almost 93,000, according to statistics from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Drivers who drink frequently don't plan for other ways to get home because they are concerned about retrieving their vehicle. They cite the expense of a taxi and time inconvenience as the major reasons they don't use alternative transportation, according to AAA Texas. Tipsy Tow provides motorists with a safe ride home for themselves and their vehicle instead of driving while intoxicated.

Current laws, enforcement, public awareness and education efforts by public service-oriented organizations, including AAA Texas, have contributed to the decline in the number of alcohol-related fatalities and injuries for the past 17 years. AAA Texas provides the Tipsy Tow service and free publications as part of its "You Drink. You Drive. You Lose." public awareness campaign.

The Tipsy Tow service is available in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Fort Worth, El Paso, the Greater Houston area, Galveston, and San Antonio.

AAA Texas, an affiliate of AAA National, has been serving Texans since 1902. Today, more than a million AAA Texas members benefit from the organization's roadside assistance service, travel agency, financial products, insurance products and services, automotive pricing, buying and financing, trip planning services, and traffic safety programs. Information about these products and services is available on AAA Texas' Web site at www.aaa-texas.com.