The police will be out on New Year’s Eve trying to stop people from drinking and driving.

Prosecutors will be standing by after the weekend to file charges against the drivers caught over the holiday.

People planning to drink on New Year’s, of course, may designate a driver. Or they may take advantage of a Park City-area program known as Taxis Against Drunk Driving, a not-for-profit group that works to keep drunken drivers off the road.

Someone who uses Taxis Against Drunk Driving pays for a taxi home the night they have been drinking instead of driving themselves home. The taxi operator the next day provides the person a free ride back to retrieve the car.

“It eliminates the need to have to drive home if you’ve consumed too much,” said Bill Pierret, the operations director of Advanced Transportation, the shuttle service that provides drivers and vehicles to Taxis Against Drunk Driving.

The program runs throughout the year, and Pierret estimates up to 10 people used the service last New Year’s Eve. It has been in operation a little more than five years. It will take people throughout the state, but Pierret said the majority of people who call want to be brought somewhere in the Park City area.

He said, though, it seems more people are using taxis to go out on New Year’s anyway, with drivers shuttling people to and from Main Street especially. He said he plans to have “multiple vehicles” operating on New Year’s.

The Park City Police Department plans to patrol local roads on New Year’s with a stepped-up force. Phil Kirk, a police captain, said officers will especially be monitoring S.R. 224 and S.R. 248, the two entryways into Park City.

“You’re going to see greater numbers of police officers out there, specifically some focusing on DUI enforcement,” Kirk said.

Kirk, though, said New Year’s typically does not pose the same problems with drinking and driving as other holidays like Independence Day. Kirk said many people arrange for rides on New Year’s before they head out.

A typical drunken-driving charge for someone facing their first such offense is classified as a class B misdemeanor. Charges at that level are punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The charges become more serious for repeat offenders.

Summit County Attorney David Brickey said revelers in the last decade have been less inclined to drink and drive. There have been “sad cases,” though, in the Park City area, he said.

“A taxi is far cheaper than hiring a defense lawyer, paying a fine and serving jail,” Brickey said.

The number for the Taxis Against Drunk Driving program is 1-435-647-3999.