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Free July 4th Cab Rides Throughout County
Local, Anti-Drunk Driving Effort Kicks-Off on U.S.Holiday
Nearly Half of All Traffic Deaths are Alcohol Related
Upper Marlboro, MD, June – As a direct response to Independence Day being that U.S. holiday when nearly half (44%) of all traffic deaths are alcohol-related *, a local non-profit group will be offering free cab rides to would-be drunk drivers throughout Prince George's County, Maryland this Fourth of July.
Offered by the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP), the Independence Day SoberRide program will be in operation beginning at 4:00 pm on Saturday, July 4th and continue until 4:00 am the following day (7/5) as a way to keep local roads safe from impaired drivers during this traditionally high-risk, holiday period.
During this 12-hour period, area residents celebrating with alcohol may call the toll-free SoberRide phone number 1-800-200-TAXI and be afforded a no-cost (up to a $ 50 fare), safe way home.
AT&T wireless customers can dial #-TAXI for the same service. Local taxicab companies throughout the Washington-metropolitan area provide this no-cost service to local residents age 21 and older who otherwise may have attempted to drive home after drinking.
“Even during last year’s rainy Independence Day holiday, 166 persons in Greater Washington did the right thing and availed themselves of this potentially lifesaving service rather than driving home possibly impaired,“ said Kurt Gregory Erickson, WRAP’s President. “For SoberRide’s hours of operation last July 4th, this translated into the removal of a would-be drunk driver from Greater Washington’s roadways every four-and-a-half minutes.”
SoberRide is 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 this year’s Independence Day SoberRide offering include AT&T Anheuser-Busch, Diageo, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation, ExxonMobil, GEICO and Red Top Cab of Arlington.
Participating taxicab companies include: 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.
Since 1993, WRAP’s SoberRide program has provided 43,789 free cab rides home to would-be drunk drivers in the Greater Washington area.
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-metropolitan area. 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. WRAP, however, may best be known to area residents via the organization’s popular free cab ride service for would-be drunk drivers, SoberRide.
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