Celebrate New Year's, but S.C. troopers want you to live to see 2019

"I'm OK to drive drunk."

"I only live a few miles down the road."

"I can handle my alcohol."

"I only have a little buzz."

"I'm not that drunk."

These are a few of the excuses state troopers hear after they stop someone suspected of driving impaired. But there is no combination of words that could keep an impaired driver from getting charged and cuffed.

South Carolina Department of Public Safety's "Sober or Slammer!" campaign and the dangers of driving impaired are no secret so troopers are encouraging drivers to plan ahead for this New Year holiday.

Many impaired drivers are caught through regular patrol, said Lance Cpl. David Jones with South Carolina Highway Patrol.

What leads to a traffic stop?

Drivers swerving in the lanes, driving under the speed limit, speeding, driving without headlights and not using blinkers are some common reasons, Jones said. It's also not uncommon for people to pass out at red lights and stop signs, Jones said.

"Typically," he said, "we see good people who make poor decisions."

But if someone is caught driving while impaired, he said, the driver is going to jail. "There's no getting out of that," he said.

And an impaired driver could be anyone, he said.

Jones said he's arrested people from all walks of life - wealthy, poor, young and old - for driving under the influence.

Considering what could happen when a person drives drunk, Jones said getting a ticket and going to jail is a lesser consequence.

In the spring of 2006 in Beaufort, Jones made his first notification to let a family member know their loved one, a young man, had died in a wreck.

"I went to the home, and his pregnant fiance answered the door," he said. The wreck was alcohol related, he said.

Jones said the time it takes him to walk from his vehicle to a person's front door is the longest walk of his life.

Since 2006 Jones, along with other troopers, has notified dozens of families that a family member was killed in a wreck.

One scene still sticks with him today.

Jones recalled responding to a wreck at 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 6, 2013, on Old Barnwell Road in Lexington County.

"An impaired driver crossed the center line," he said, "and struck 15-year-old Brandon Mayo head on."

Brandon, a sophomore, was driving to White Knoll High School.

"I sat with him waiting on fire and EMS to arrive," Jones said, "and watched as Brandon took his last breath. I remember the parents running up to the scene screaming."

Jones said his own son was born nine days after the wreck. "Between the two," he said, "I see the crash in my head like it was yesterday."

Speaking about the birth of her son, Brandon, during the 2015 parole hearing for the man convicted of killing him, Jennifer Mayo said, "At last my husband's dreams of having a son to carry on his name had come true, and our family of five was complete."

Fifteen years later, Brandon was killed when Michael Gray, now 65, got behind the wheel while under the influence of narcotics and sleeping pills, according to Mayo.

Gray pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He is being held at Manning Reentry and Work Release Center in Columbia.

"It's hard for me to even describe the pain and devastation this brought to our once happy family of five," Mayo said to the parole board. "I literally thought about killing myself daily for two years because the pain of waking up every day knowing my son was gone was just too much for me to take."

"Brandon's killer was sentenced to eight years," she said. "Brandon got a death sentence, and we got a life sentence." Jennifer Mayo's comments were posted online by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Gray was denied parole.

According to South Carolina Department of Public Safety, 300 people die each year on South Carolina roadways as a result of impaired driving. So far this year, more than 900 people have died on the roads.

If you know you're going out drinking this holiday, or any day, he said, plan your trip beforehand.

Download a ride-sharing app such as Uber or Lyft to request a ride home at the end of the night, he said.

And for people who do not want to leave their vehicles behind, Jones said some towing services will also give the vehicle owner a ride home.

Troopers will be on the roads everyday making sure people are buckled up driving safely, Jones said.

Hopefully, he said, South Carolina can end 2018 with no more fatal wrecks.