THE Albury Council will again hand out taxi vouchers to businesses to encourage drinkers not to get behind the wheel after boozy Christmas parties.
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This is the third year it has done so.
It provided 400 vouchers last year.
The council’s safety officer, Lauren Torocsik, said businesses were asked to provide $2 for each $5 voucher their staff used — up form a dollar last year.
She said the aim of the scheme was to curb the city’s high rate of car crashes involving alcohol.
Alcohol was involved in 7.6 per cent of casualty crashes in Albury from 2007 to last year — the NSW rate was lower at 5.3 per cent.
The council’s community safety officer Heather Webster said the statistics were worse in regional areas because there wasn’t enough public transport.
Marketing manager at Bellbridge Haugue — which has supported the program since its inception — Frances Dallinger said vouchers encouraged people to think about transport when planning their end-of-year bash.
“They should decide that if they’re going to drink they’re not going to drive,” he said.