Staying safe on St. Patrick’s Day, how local bars are making sure customers drink responsibly

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ)-- With the rise of celebrations on St. Patrick’s Day, also comes a very sobering statistic: between 2018 and 2022, 290 people were killed in alcohol impaired crashes during the holiday weekend. According to the NHTSA, during those years, one person was killed in an alcohol related crash every 45 minutes.
With that in mind, the Brenda Johnson, the owner of O'Cains Pub in Rancho Mirage, told News Channel Three's Tori King that the pub is going to be keeping a careful eye on customers, and will cut them off if they get too intoxicated.

“A large part of our focus on St. Patrick’s Day is carding younger people and minors who are coming in
Local Irish pubs have been preparing for St. Patricks Day all year long," said Johnson. "We bring in extra bartenders, just so we can stay on top of who’s getting what beer at what time.”
O’Cains Irish pub in Rancho Mirage, is just one of the many places in town that people come to celebrate. Johnson says her staff works diligently to make sure customers stay safe while celebrating– and that they’re trained to recognize when someone has had too much to drink.

"Our bartenders and our servers are very, very aware of who’s had too much to drink," said Johnson. "We have not had to cut off very many people in our years, but we have had to do it, and we do it in a very diplomatic way, in a very nice way.”
Although St. Patricks Day is a day of fun and indulgence, Johnson says pubs should do everything they can prevent impaired driving.

Jeffrey Goodman, the President of American Bartending School in Palm Desert agrees.
“We teach them how to pour, how to handle glassware, bottles, shaking, measuring," said Goodman. "We also teach them responsible beverage service, how to stop serving an intoxicated person.”
Goodman says he’s training the next generation of bartenders to serve responsibly– which he says could save lives in the future.

“When a person comes in to drink, the ultimate responsibility falls on the establishment," said Goodman. "So it’s up to the bartender to make sure that the person is cut off when they’ve had too much to drink, limiting their drinking, letting the door person know, calling cabs. There is a whole slew of little things that are done to make sure that the neighborhood is safe when the person leaves the establishment."

Although St. Patrick's Day is a holiday of fun and indulgence, both Johnson and Goodman urge customers to make a plan to get to and from the bar regardless.

"If you’re going to be drinking, have somebody else doing the driving or take an Uber or use other forms of transportation to get home," said Goodman.
“Everyone coming here is because they want to drink Guinness and Harp and all that," said Johnson. "You know they’re going to have a good time, but you still have to be very cognizant of the beers that are going across the bar, and our servers have to always be watching. We want people to have fun, but it's all of our responsibility to make sure we get home safe and alive at the end of the day. We don't want anyone to get into any crashes, ever."
Other things bars are doing is stepping up security, with many of them, including Shamrock's Irish Pub in Palm Springs, hiring extra bouncers for St. Patrick's Day.
Of course, local law enforcement, including the Palm Springs Police Department as well as California Highway Patrol will be ramping up their patrols on the roads as well.

Remember, don't drink and drive. Resources to prevent drinking and driving can be found here.