A Record-Shattering Over 1,300 Use Local SoberRide® Program Over Halloween Weekend
DC AREA’S DUI PREVENTION EFFORT REMOVES POTENTIAL DRUNK DRIVER FROM AREA ROADWAYS NEARLY EVERY 32-SECONDS
Tysons, VA, November 1 – Over 1,300 (1,321) persons in the Washington-metropolitan area used the free safe ride service, SoberRide®, Halloween weekend (October 28-29) as opposed to possibly driving home drunk.
“For its hours of operation last weekend, this level of ridership translates into SoberRide removing a potential drunk driver from Greater Washington’s roadways nearly every 32-seconds,” said Kurt Erickson, President of the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP), the organization conducting the region’s SoberRide® effort.
WRAP’s 2023 Halloween SoberRide® campaign began at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, 2023 and continued until 4:00 a.m. the next day, Sunday October 29, 2023 as a way to keep local roads safe from potentially impaired drivers during this traditionally high-risk period. During this time, area residents celebrating with alcohol could download the Lyft app to their phones, then enter the code “SAFEHALLOWEEN23” in the app’s ‘Promo’ section to receive their no-cost safe ride home. SoberRide® was available to new and existing Lyft users.
Lyft provided SoberRide® trips throughout the Washington-metropolitan area to local residents ages 21 and older who otherwise may have attempted to drive home after drinking.
The most recent Halloween ridership of 1,321 users was the highest ever for that holiday since SoberRide® began in 1991. WRAP also offers free safe ride services on St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Independence Day and the winter holiday through and including New Year’s Eve.
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 2023 Halloween SoberRide® campaign include 395 Express Lanes, Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Beer Institute, Brown-Forman, 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 2023 Public Partner SoberRide® Sponsors include the District of Columbia Office of the Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure’s Highway Safety Office, Maryland Highway Safety Office/Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
Since 1991, WRAP’s SoberRide® program has provided 88,126 free safe rides home to would-be drunk drivers in the Greater Washington area.
Founded in 1982, the nonprofit [501(c)(3)] Washington Regional Alcohol 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’s SoberRide® initiative can be found at www.SoberRide.com.