Nearly 500 Use Local SoberRide® Program Over Winter Holidays
DC AREA’S DUI PREVENTION EFFORT REMOVES POTENITAL DRUNK DRIVER FROM AREA ROADWAYS EVERY 75-SECONDS ON NYE ALONE
Washington, D.C., January 6 – While unquestionably impacted by the resurging COVID-19 pandemic including the Omicron variant, 461 persons in the Washington-metropolitan area still used the free safe ride service, SoberRide®, over the recent winter holidays. A total of 285 persons (included in the aforementioned ridership figure) used the local SoberRide® program during New Year’s, alone.
“For its hours of operation just on New Year’s, this level of ridership translates into SoberRide removing a potential drunk driver from Greater Washington’s roadways every 75-seconds,” said Kurt Erickson, President of the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program, the organization conducting the region’s SoberRide® effort.
WRAP’s 2021 Holiday SoberRide® campaign began at 10:00 pm on Friday, December 17, 2021 and operated until 4:00 am each night through Saturday, January 1, 2022 as a way to keep local roads safe from potentially impaired drivers during this traditionally high-risk holiday. Each evening during this 15-night period, area residents celebrating with alcohol could download the Lyft app to their phones, then enter a SoberRide® code (posted on www.SoberRide.com) in the app’s “Promo” section to receive their no cost (up to $15) safe transportation home. SoberRide® was available to both new and existing Lyft users.
Lyft provided SoberRide® trips throughout the Washington-metropolitan area to local residents age 21 and older who otherwise may have attempted to drive home after drinking.
The charity also offers its free safe ride service on St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Independence Day and Halloween.
SoberRide® was 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 2021 Holiday SoberRide® campaign included the 395 Express Lanes, Anheuser-Busch, Beer Institute, Brown-Forman, Constellation Brands, District of Columbia Association of Beverage Alcohol Wholesalers, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, Giant Food, Glory Days Grill, Heineken, Kendall-Jackson, Lyft, Molson Coors Beverage Company, New Belgium Brewing, Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington and the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association. In addition, WRAP’s 2021 Public Partner SoberRide® Sponsors include the District of Columbia Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office, Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration’s Highway Safety Office and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
Since 1991, WRAP’s SoberRide® program has provided 81,645 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 a coalition of diverse interests using effective education, innovative programs and targeted advocacy to end alcohol-impaired driving and underage drinking in the Washington, DC metro area. Through public education, innovative health education programs and advocacy, WRAP is credited with keeping the metro-Washington area’s alcohol-related traffic deaths historically lower than the national average.
For more information, visit WRAP’s web site at www.wrap.org.