The five-day Mardi Gras holiday was once again the single-most dangerous holiday on Louisiana highways in 2015, according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission.

Over last year’s five-day Mardi Gras weekend, according to preliminary data, there were 599 fatal and injury crashes, with 10 deaths and 1,005 injuries — more than half of the deaths involved alcohol.

The statistics were no better than the same holiday period the year before when there were 601 fatal and injury crashes in Louisiana and 13 people died. Seven of those deaths involved alcohol.

It goes beyond the poor choices of drinking and driving. Our community became a lightning rod of sorts last year for underage drinking when a physical encounter between a local youth and Jefferson Parish law enforcement turned into the YouTube clip of the month.

So, please, drink responsibly this Mardi Gras season. Of course, the same deterrents remain in place.

Law enforcement officers are joining forces statewide through Mardi Gras in the high-visibility Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign that runs through Feb. 9.

Its goal is simple: Save lives by keeping impaired drivers off the roads.

In 2014, 34 percent of the traffic fatalities in Louisiana involved a driver with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit (.08 BAC or above). This is compared to 31 percent in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Driving while intoxicated is a serious offense in Louisiana, with a first-offense arrest costing thousands of dollars in fines, plus court costs and jail time.

An adult is legally intoxicated with a BAC of .08 or greater. The limit for drivers under 21 is .02 BAC.

Louisiana law also requires drivers and passengers in the front and back seats to wear their seat belts at all times when their vehicle is in motion.

Motorists can report impaired drivers by dialing *LSP (*577) from their cellular phones to reach the Louisiana State Police Troop closest to them.