A Record-Shattering Over 4,000 Persons Use Local SoberRide® Program Halloween Weekend
DC AREA’S DUI PREVENTION INITIATIVE NEARS “100,000 SERVED” MILESTONE
Tysons, VA, October 6 – A record-shattering 4,056 persons in the Washington-metropolitan area used the free safe ride service, SoberRide®, Halloween weekend as opposed to possibly driving home drunk. Last weekend’s ridership was the most ever for a single SoberRide® campaign in the program’s 34-year history.
In as much, the local drunk driving prevention initiative — which started in 1991 and is conducted by the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) — is nearing the “100,000 served” milestone as the SoberRide® program has, to-date, provided 99,493 free safe rides home to would-be drunk drivers in the Greater Washington area.
WRAP also offers its free safe ride service on Super Bowl Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Independence Day and the winter holidays through and including New Year’s Eve.
“For its hours of operation this Halloween alone, this most recent level of ridership translates into SoberRide® removing a potential drunk driver from Greater Washington’s roadways every 21-seconds,” said Kurt Erickson, WRAP President.
WRAP’s 2025 Halloween SoberRide® campaign was in operation from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am on both the evenings of Friday, October 31 (Halloween) and Saturday, November 1, 2025 as a way to keep local roads safe from impaired drivers during this traditionally high-risk period. During these two evenings, area residents celebrating with alcohol could download the Lyft app to their phones, then enter the code “SAFEHALLOWEEN25” in the app’s ‘Promo’ section to receive their no-cost (up to $15) safe ride home. SoberRide® was available to new and existing Lyft users.
Lyft provided SoberRide® trips throughout the Washington-metropolitan area to residents 21 and older who otherwise may have attempted to drive home after drinking.
Last year, 735 people in the Washington-metropolitan area used WRAP’s (single night) Halloween SoberRide® program as opposed to possibly driving home drunk.
SoberRide® is offered throughout Lyft’s Washington D.C. coverage area which includes all or parts of: the District of Columbia; the Maryland counties of Montgomery and Prince George’s and towns therein plus the cities of Bowie, College Park, District Heights, Gaithersburg, Glenarden, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Laurel, Mount Ranier, New Carrollton, Rockville, Seat Pleasant and Takoma Park; and the Northern Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William and towns therein plus the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park.
Sponsors of WRAP’s 2025 Halloween SoberRide® campaign included the 395 Express Lanes, Anheuser-Busch, Beer Institute, Brown-Forman, Chesapeake Region Safety Council, Constellation Brands, Diageo, District of Columbia Association of Beverage Alcohol Wholesalers, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, Giant Food, Glory Days Grill, Lyft, Molson Coors Beverage Company, New Belgium Brewing, Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington and the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association. WRAP’s 2025 Public Partner SoberRide® sponsors include the District of Columbia Highway Safety Office, Maryland Highway Safety Office/Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
Founded in 1982, the nonprofit [501(c)(3)] Washington Regional Program (WRAP) is an award-winning public-private partnership working to prevent drunk driving and underage drinking in the Washington-metropolitan area. Through public education, innovative health education programs and advocacy, WRAP is credited with helping to keep the annual percentage of metro-Washington traffic deaths involving alcohol-impaired driving historically lower than the national average. WRAP, however, may best be known to area residents via the organization’s popular free safe ride service to prevent drunk driving, SoberRide®.
More information about WRAP and its SoberRide® initiative can be found at www.SoberRide.com.