If you plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a visit to an Irish pub or another establishment that serves green beer, don’t forget to have a plan to get home safely.
Once again, the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) is offering people in the D.C. area (including Montgomery County) a free ride home (up to $15) between 4 p.m. Thursday and 2 a.m. Friday through the ride share app Lyft.
WRAP’s SoberRide program has been providing free rides on holidays since 1991, and in that time has provided over 81,600 free rides.
Their goal is to reduce impaired driving on holidays where drinking alcohol is part of the celebration, including Independence Day, Halloween, the December/January holiday season, Cinco de Mayo, and St. Patrick’s Day.
“Nearly two-thirds of nighttime U.S. traffic deaths immediately following St. Patrick’s Day involve drunk drivers according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,” said WRAP President Kurt Erickson.
When SoberRide began, the program partnered with taxi cabs in the region and allowed people to call free or reduced rate taxis on a hotline number. Now, users simply input a promo code before hailing a ride as usual on the app, and that code provides the user up to $15 towards a ride home.
The promo code becomes available at 3 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day on the SoberRide website, and anyone 21 and older with the Lyft app in the Washington, DC coverage area can take advantage of this opportunity while supplies last. They are offering up to 1500 of the discounts.
Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. If you’ll be out celebrating and alcohol is involved, please designate a sober driver or use WRAP’s #SoberRide! ☘️ (SoberRide code to be posted at 3:00 pm on 3/17 at https://t.co/6cAYMRtXzy. Limited quantities available.) pic.twitter.com/U9vPzXbzVW
— WRAP.org (@WRAP_org) March 16, 2022
Well Whattayou know Wednesday.
Tomorrow, March 17th is St. Patrick's Day.
Washington Regional Alcohol Program's SoberRide program will be offered from 4 p.m., Thursday, March 17 until 4 a.m., Friday, March 18. #mcpnews #soberride #dontdrinkanddrive pic.twitter.com/0ndb9AjTeg
— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) March 16, 2022
