New Year’s Eve is a big drinking holiday, so one local organization is offering celebrants and partygoers a free and safe ride home.
“If you’re of legal drinking age in the greater Washington area this New Year’s Eve … and your plans involve alcohol, you can go to SoberRide.com and download a code that will give you up to a $15 free ride home through Lyft,” said Kurt Erickson, president of WRAP, the Washington Regional Alcohol Program.
Erickson told WTOP that the safe ride program lasts between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. for rides within Lyft’s greater Washington coverage area.
The SoberRide code will be posted online for download at 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, with WRAP offering 2,000 of these Lyft coupon codes, one per person.
Last year, 907 people took advantage of the free SoberRide on New Year’s Eve, according to Erickson.
“If you do the math, it basically translated to taking would-be drunk drivers off the Greater Washington roadways every 23 seconds,” Erickson said.
The nonprofit offers free safe rides home on other big drinking holidays, including St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo.
“We really want people to plan ahead anyway, even if SoberRide didn’t exist,” Erickson said. “We want them to designate a sober driver, use public transportation, use taxi cabs, use ride shares, spend the night somewhere where you’re going. But if your plans fail, and you think your only alternative is to get behind the wheel of a car, if you’ve been drinking, that’s when SoberRide shines.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says there is often a rise in drunken driving deaths during the Christmas and New Year holiday periods. Recent data shows the number of drunken driving deaths nationwide in the month of December is the highest in almost 15 years.
Metro is also making it easier for late night partyers to get home safely. Train service will be extended by two hours, until 2 a.m.
