The Dangers of Letting Your Patrons Drive Home Drunk

It’s hard to imagine something more dangerous than driving drunk. Even without the addition of alcohol, stepping into a car is a massive responsibility and one not to be taken lightly. When the driver is intoxicated, stepping into the car becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse, where you can only hope you won’t end up on the short end of the stick.

While preventing these disasters isn’t something that you can always control, those who are in a position of power to do so should always do their best to take on that responsibility. Some of those who can rectify these situations are bartenders. When patrons have been over-served alcohol, they’re going to be more likely to drive home drunk. However, as a server, it should be part of your alcohol server safety training to not let the patron either have too much or leave if you believe they are showing signs of over-intoxication.

This is where RBS Training comes in. The more familiar you are with the safety protocols, the easier it will be to act on them.

RBS Training and Why It’s Important

Responsible Beverage Service Training, or RBS Training, is a vital part of any bartending or service job. As a service professional, it is your responsibility to help keep your clients and patrons safe while they’re out having a good time and enjoying their drinks. The proper kind of training can help your patrons from being overserved alcohol.

When you, as a bartender or server, allow patrons to drink too much and allow them to be overserved with alcohol, there can be disastrous consequences. Not only could the patron go out and potentially cause an accident, but you can also face the consequences of your involvement.

According to the Dram Shop Act, you, as a person who serves alcohol, may cause your establishment or yourself to be held liable for any damages a patron may cause when they’ve been overserved alcohol. A third party may be able to come after you for damages, and you as the server may even be held criminally liable. Not to mention the potential legal fees and bad press that may result as well, causing damage to your business and brand.

With proper RBS training, bartenders and servers can use their knowledge to help identify potential issues with patrons and can more easily see the warning signs of over-intoxication. With these tools in their back pockets, they’re better prepared to keep things under control in their establishments.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk

Drunk driving is a terrible circumstance and one that can easily be prevented with the right care and attention to detail. According to the CDC, 11,654 people were killed because of vehicle accidents relating to impaired driving with alcohol in 2020. This number accounts for over 30% of all vehicle accidents in the whole of 2020. To cement the impact of that statistic even more, this means that in 2020, someone was killed because of a drunk driver every 45 minutes in the United States.

Drunk driving makes a massive impact on families, friends, and the community as a whole. When you allow an impaired driver to get behind the wheel of a car, you’re making a decision that could impact lives for years to come. It’s something that could affect not only the life of the patron, but the lives of any passersby, other drivers, the owner of the establishment, and even your own.

How to Prevent Drunk Driving

As a bartender or server, it’s part of your duty to stay vigilant and prevent your patrons from being overserved alcohol. With watchful eyes and careful training, as you’d receive from RBS training, you can help to prevent a potential tragedy from occurring.

Some of the ways that you can help are:

  • Putting physically capable and observant door staff in place to assist with monitoring impairment
  • Monitoring alcohol service by keeping count of patron’s drinks, watching patron behavior, and implementing a cutoff policy
  • Stepping in early if you or another member of staff see something that could be a potential problem later on
  • Having a standard operating procedure for issues that may arise or if a patron gets belligerent

Of course, no one is perfect. There are always going to be unforeseen circumstances and situations that may be out of your control. However, knowing what to look for and acting appropriately can help to prevent a tragedy from occurring. RBS training can help with that. 

RBS Training

If you’re an alcohol server or a bartender in California, then RBS certification in California is something you need to add to your roster if you haven’t already. This course details everything you need to know about the dangers of patrons being overserved alcohol, serving alcohol to minors, improper management, and everything else that comes with owning or working in an establishment with alcohol. It is mandated by the state of California if you handle alcoholic beverages as a server, bartender, manager, or if you are a bouncer who checks identification.

As a server, you take on a massive burden to uphold alcohol industry safety practices. It’s partly your responsibility to make sure that everyone who comes out to drink can have a good time, but that they’re also staying safe while doing it. It’s a heavy load to bear, but everyone needs to take responsibility for it, and RBS Training helps you to do that.

With our training program, we’ll teach you all about the California-specific laws that affect you and your establishment as you serve alcohol. We will discuss alcohol server safety practices and give you the tools to help you navigate potentially complex situations involving alcohol industry safety as they may arise.

Who needs to be RBS Certified? Everyone on your team who handles alcoholic beverages and you! If you’re a manager of a business that serves alcohol and are interested in working with our team to learn better safety practices, then enroll in our course today.