Nearly 700 Use SoberRide on New Year’s Eve

Local Anti-DUI Effort Removes ‘Would-Be Drunk Drivers’ From Greater Washington’s Roadways Every 42 Seconds

Washington, D.C. (Jan. 4, 2010) – Six hundred and ninety-two persons in the Washington-metropolitan area used the free cab ride service, SoberRide, on New Year’s Eve, as opposed to possibly driving home drunk.

“This level of ridership translates into SoberRide removing a would-be drunk driver from Greater Washington’s roadways every 42 seconds last night,” said Kurt Gregory Erickson, President of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, the McLean, Virginia-based, non-profit organization conducting the region’s SoberRide effort.

Last night's SoberRide use represented a 48 percent increase from last New Year's Eve.

WRAP’s most recent holiday SoberRide offering – which concluded at 6 a.m. this morning after kicking-off and running nightly since Dec. 11, 2009 – provided a record high 3,178 total, free cabs rides to local residents age 21 and older who otherwise may have attempted to drive home after drinking (and surpasses WRAP's December 2002 then record of providing 2,731 total Holiday SoberRides home).

This most recent holiday SoberRide program operated between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. each evening over this nearly three-week period as a way to keep local roads safe from impaired drivers during this traditionally high-risk, holiday time. During that period, Washington-metropolitan area residents celebrating with alcohol could call the toll-free SoberRide phone number 1–800–200–TAXI and be afforded a no-cost (up to $ 50 fare), safe way home. (AT&T wireless customers could call #-TAXI for the same service.)

Since 1993 alone, WRAP’s SoberRide program has provided 47,813 free cab rides to would-be impaired drivers in the Greater Washington area.

SoberRide was offered in the: District of Columbia; throughout the Maryland counties of Montgomery and Prince George’s; and throughout the Northern Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, (eastern) Loudoun and Prince William.

Sponsors of the 2009 Holiday SoberRide campaign included Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Diageo, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation, GEICO, Giant Food Inc., Red Top Cab and the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association.

Participating taxicab companies included: Alexandria Yellow Cab, Barwood; Fairfax Yellow Cab; Loudoun Yellow Cab; Manassas Cab Company; Red Top Cab; Silver Cab of Prince George’s County; Yellow Cab of D.C.; and Yellow Cab of Prince William County.

Founded in 1982, the Washington Regional Alcohol Program is an award-winning public-private partnership working to prevent drunk driving and underage drinking in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. Through public education, innovative health education programs and advocacy, WRAP is credited with keeping the metro-Washington area’s alcohol-related traffic deaths consistently lower than the national average.

For more information, visit WRAP’s web site at www.wrap.org.