For the second year in a row, the NCAA and TEAM Coalition partnered at the 2018 NCAA Lacrosse Championship in Foxboro, MA on May 26 – May 28, 2018. This was the second year that alcohol was served at the Lacrosse Championship and TEAM was there to reward fans who made the Responsibility Has Its Rewards pledge to:
• Buckle Up – Every Trip, Every Time
• Never Drive Drunk
• Always Have a Designated Driver
Fans from all over the country gathered at Gillette Stadium to watch the Men’s D-I, D-II and D-III championship games. The Yale Bulldogs won their first ever D-I championship by defeating the Duke Blue Devils in the final. Merrimack College took home the Men’s D-II Championship after losing in the title game last year and Wesleyan University won their first ever D-III championship.
Over 700 fans took the Responsibility pledge, signed the inflatable lacrosse stick and received a free souvenir photo. The new partner in the program was the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The championships were perfectly timed with NHTSA’s high visibility enforcement campaign for seat belts called Click It Or Ticket. All photos included the Click It Or Ticket logo to encourage fans to buckle up – every trip, every time.
US DOT / NHTSA 2016 NATIONAL DATA:
• In 2016, 10,497 people were killed as a result of alcohol-related (BAC > 0.08) car crashes, an increase of 1.7% from the 10,265 fatalities in 2015.
• Many, if not most of those lives would have been saved if people did not drive when they were impaired by alcohol or if they used sober, designated drivers or if they simply wore their seat belts.
• Statistics and research clearly show that 21-34 year old males are the demographic most likely to be involved in an automobile crash.
