Over 1,000 Use Local SoberRide® Program Over Winter Holidays

DC AREA DUI PREVENTION REMOVES POTENTIAL DRUNK DRIVER FROM AREA ROADWAYS EVERY 26-SECONDS ON NEW YEAR’S, ALONE

Tysons, VA, Jan. 5 — Over 1,000 (1,096) persons in the Washington-metropolitan area used the free safe ride service, SoberRide®, during the recent winter holidays (December 15, 2023 through January 1, 2024) as opposed to possibly driving home drunk.

“For its hours of operation this New Year’s alone, this level of ridership translates into SoberRide® removing a potential drunk driver from Greater Washington’s roadways every 26-seconds,” said Kurt Erickson, President of the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program, the organization conducting the region’s SoberRide® effort.

WRAP’s most recent holiday SoberRide® offering concluded on January 1, 2023 after kicking-off and running nightly (10:00 pm to 4:00 am) since December 15, 2023 providing a total of 1,096 free safe rides to local residents ages 21 and older who otherwise may have attempted to drive home after drinking. 831 persons used Greater Washington’s SoberRide® on New Year’s, alone (10:00 pm on December 31, 2023 through 4:00 am on January 1, 2024).

The local anti-drunk driving service is offered as a way to keep local roads safe from potentially impaired drivers during this traditionally high-risk holiday. During the most recent 17 consecutive evening period, area residents celebrating with alcohol could download Lyft to their phones, then enter WRAP-provided codes (available at SoberRide.com) in the app’s “Payment” tab (under the Add Lyft Pass” option) 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 ages 21 and older who otherwise may have attempted to drive home after drinking.

WRAP also offers its SoberRide® program 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 2023 Holiday SoberRide® campaign included the 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, HEINEKEN, 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 included the District of Columbia Office of the Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure’s Highway Safety Office, the Maryland Highway Safety Office/Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

Since 1991, WRAP’s SoberRide® program has provided 89,222 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.