Nonprofit Offers Free Rides On New Year To Minimize Drunk Driving

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — New Year's Eve is a night of celebration. For many people, those festivities include alcohol.

Getting behind the wheel after drinking is dangerous, so one nonprofit is stepping up. The Washington Regional Alcohol Program will offer free rides to Prince George's County residents through its SoberRide initiative.

The offer opens at 10 p.m. Thursday and expires at 2 a.m. Friday. All users have to do is download the Lyft mobile application and enter a promo code. WRAP will post the code, which covers $15 of your fare, on this website Thursday at 9 p.m.

Last New Year, 921 people used the SoberRide code. WRAP has funded 80,047 free, safe rides since 1991.

The service is also available to residents of Montgomery County and Washington, D.C., as well as those living in the northern Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William. WRAP sponsors free rides on other holidays too, including St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Independence Day and Halloween.

"While we’re all safer at home, we are also a public safety organization which regularly looks to mitigate risk," WRAP President Kurt Erickson said in a press release. "We therefore urge all Greater Washington area residents to stay at home and respect public health restrictions this New Year’s. However, if persons do venture out and alcohol is involved, we are all benefited from the safety net role which the region’s SoberRide program plays to remove drunk drivers from area roadways."

The following organizations are sponsors of WRAP's SoberRide effort:

• 95 Express Lanes
• AAA Mid-Atlantic
• Anheuser-Busch
• 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
• Heineke
• Kendall-Jackson
• Lyft
• Molson Coors Beverage Company
• New Belgium Brewing
• Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington
• Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association

"Lyft is proud of the role ridesharing has played in reducing impaired driving across the nation," said Robin Burns, Lyft's MidAtlantic Community Strategist. "Here in the DC area, partnering with the Washington Regional Alcohol Program allows us to take our commitment to providing reliable, convenient, and responsible transportation a step further, particularly during times of the year when people are out celebrating and in need of a ride home."

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