Over 900 Use Local SoberRide® Program on New Year’s
DC AREA’S DUI PREVENTION EFFORT REMOVES POTENTIAL DRUNK DRIVERS FROM AREA ROADWAYS EVERY 23-SECONDS ON NYE
Washington, D.C., Jan. 9 – Over 900 (907) persons in the Washington-metropolitan area used the free safe ride service, SoberRide®, this New Year’s (from 10:00 pm on December 31, 2022 through 4:00 am on January 1, 2023) 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 23-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 since December 16, 2022 providing a total of 998 free safe rides to local residents ages 21 and older who otherwise may have attempted to drive home after drinking. 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 16 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 free safe ride services 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, District of Columbia Association of Beverage Alcohol Wholesalers, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Foundation of Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, Giant Food, Glory Days Grill, Kendall-Jackson, Lyft, Molson Coors Beverage Company, New Belgium Brewing, Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, and the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association. WRAP’s 2022 Public Partner SoberRide® Sponsors included the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, Maryland Highway Safety Office/Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
Since 1991, WRAP’s SoberRide® program has provided 84,676 free safe rides home to would-be drunk drivers in the Greater Washington area.
Having commemorated its 40th year in 2022 after being 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.