Lights on for Life discourages Blackout Wednesday

JOHNSTOWN, N.Y. (NEWS10) -On Blackout Wednesday, the HFM Prevention Council began its 2024 Lights on for Life campaign. Five local coalitions are partnered with the council to discourage drinking and driving.

Hamilton, Fulton, and Montgomery Counties have been involved with the campaign for more than a decade. "We visit local businesses and put up some of the flyers there so that patrons can come in, scan the QR code, take the pledge, to not drive while impaired," said Gwendolyn Ossenkop, Coalition Coordinator of Montgomery County Cares.

Everyone is encouraged to sign the pledge. College students and adults are told to not drink and drive and instead, to put the keys aside. Even younger kids in local school districts are in on the conversation.

"With our younger students, for us, for Montgomery County, we talk more about just making sure that you're not getting in the car with somebody who's been drinking," explained Ossenkop.

The pledge typically gets a few hundred student signatures every year. But the coalitions say it's not just about how many people type out their name.

"With all of the pamphlets and all of the information that we have for our community members, it's still sticking in the back of their brains. They're still talking about it with their neighbors, their kids, their friends, so that information is getting out there," described Victoria Moore, Project Coordinator of Four Rivers Alliance.

"When you drive by a house and see the lights on, if you've seen the billboards or received one of those flyers, you think, 'Oh, I wonder if they have their Lights on for Life or they just happen to have the lights on,'" added Bonnie Peck, Director and Project Coordinator of the Glove City Coalition.

There will be four billboards up throughout the tri-county area starting December 2. The 2024 Lights on for Life campaign will run until January 1.