Free Sober Rides Offered To Curb Impaired Driving During Holidays In DC Region

NORTHERN VIRGINIA — The winter holidays are a fun time to enjoy eggnog, New Year's Eve champagne and other alcoholic drinks with family and friends, but local officials want to ensure the festivities don't end with drunk driving.

Nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program is bringing back its SoberRide program in the DC region during the winter holidays through New Year's. Residents 21 and older can receive a free Lyft ride up to $15 as an alternative to driving while impaired. The program runs nightly from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. from Dec. 15 to Jan. 1.

The program is offered in Lyft’s Washington D.C. coverage area, which includes the District of Columbia, Arlington County, Fairfax County, cities of Falls Church, Alexandria, Fairfax, Manassas and Manassas Park, parts of Prince William County and Loudoun County, Prince George's County, Charles County, St. Mary's County and parts of Montgomery County.

WRAP offers the program during high-risk holidays for impaired driving. The program is also offered on St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July and Halloween.

"Over a third of all U.S. traffic fatalities during Christmas and New Year’s in 2021 involved drunk drivers according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration," said Kurt Erickson, president of WRAP.

During the SoberRide winter holiday program, residents 21 and older can use the Lyft app and enter the SoberRide code in the payment tab. That gives a credit up to $15 for a Lyft ride. Promo codes are posted at 9 p.m. on Dec. 15, 22 and 31 at www.SoberRide.com.

WRAP was founded in 1982 to work on preventing drunk driving and underage drinking in the DC region. The nonprofit is credited with helping to lower traffic deaths associated with drunk driving. In 2022, over 900 people used the SoberRide program during the New Year's holiday. Since 1991, SoberRide has provided 88,126 free rides home as an alternative to impaired driving.

Sponsors of SoberRide during the winter holidays are the 395 Express Lanes, Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Beer Institute, Brown-Forman, Constellation Brands, Diageo, District of Columbia Association of Beverage Alcohol Wholesalers, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, Giant Food, Glory Days Grill, Heineken, Lyft, Molson Coors Beverage Company, New Belgium Brewing, Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington and the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association. Public partners include the District of Columbia Office of the Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure’s Highway Safety Office, Maryland Highway Safety Office/Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.