Hi Ho - I want to call on the collective wisdom of the dope again.
I moonlight preparing some editorial for a motoring magazine.
Our Christmas Issue is the “get home safe” issue - aka anti drink driving
I want to ask for help in three areas, relying on the geographic spread of the dope for answers
What is the best designated driver / stopp drunk driver initiative from a bar in your area?
What is the best anti drink driving campaign you have seen (print or tvc)
What is the weirdest anti DUI law (or custom) in your area
As this is going to be put into a print magazine, I will be looking to achieve resonable standards of journalism - meaning that all initiatives will be mentioned by the specific bar country, and I will be verifying them directly with the relevant spokes person - so the more info that can be provided the better please.
I’m not sure this is what you’re looking for, but the absolute BEST anti-drunk-driving thing in our area is cheap taxis. The taxis run on a flat rate of $5.50/group, anywhere in town. That’s so cheap that even university students and other such low-income types gladly pay it instead of driving home.
The flip side is that in the winter, there’s absolutely no place you can leave your car overnight without getting a $50 ticket. I was unhappily surprised after unexpectedly meeting some friends at a local restaurant/bar, having a few drinks, being responsible and taking a taxi home instead of driving, only to find a $50 ticket on my car when I went to pick it up the next day. I called the police and explained the situation, and they reversed the ticket, but when I asked where I should have parked to avoid this in the future, they readily admitted that there was no parking lot in the downtown area where I could leave my car overnight without getting a $50 ticket in the winter (not so in the summer- the winter ticket was because they wanted the cars out in case they had to plow snow.)
Essentially, I see it as a fine for trying to be responsible. Take a taxi home? That’ll be $50. Stupid.
Thanks - and yes this is the sort of thing I am looking for - except that it would be cool if the additional step of it only being available for drunk drivers would make it even better.
If you don’t mind, would you be able to PM me where “in my area” is? I need to be specific when writing this story…
The students at University of California Davis run what is called the tipsy taxi. For a buck (each way) they will take a student from campus to a bar, or back again after a night of drinking.
I’m told that has really cut down on the dui busts among students.
How do they identify the DD and how is it promoted? Also if you don’t mind rto PM me your location?
Can I ask in general, how widespread this is? I remember it was started in New Zealand (at least the bars I went to) about 18 years ago - but then it was stopped. While running the bars would give some sort of “tag” to the DD, and he only had to show that to get drinks
In E. Lansing where I went to school, you only had to declare that you were the DD and they may have stamped your hand. They really didn’t promote it, from what I remember, you just asked the waitress. More often than not, if they didn’t have the policy, they would if you asked. I still do it when I go to a bar. If I’m the DD, I just tell them I am, and ask for free sodas. It’s harder here in Boston, because so few people drive, but in MI I was rarely told no.
In Norfolk/Virginia Beach some bars have a program where they’ll put a “No Ticket” thing on your car, so police won’t ticket your car if you leave it overnight while you take a taxi home. I believe Budweiser has a promotion with certain bars where they’ll even pay for the taxi. The whole idea is basically “Now you have NO excuse”.
I’ve seen a lot of campaigns, but there is one that always comes to mind. I think of it immediately, while I have to think a bit before I can remember another one.
A billboard depicts a crashed car, at night, fully engulfed in flames. The caption reads, ‘Toast a friend lately? Don’t drink and drive.’
Back in the 1970s, in Toronto, the local distillers and/or brewers (I can’t remember exactly who) used to “buy” the local transit system on the big drinking nights of the year–New Year’s Eve is the one I recall, but there may have been others. Anyway, all night from about 6:00 p.m. until the system stopped for the night (usually about 2:00), rides on buses and subways and streetcars were free of charge. You could get to the party on transit, have a few, and a few more if you wanted, and get home; all without driving yourself or paying for a cab. Then it got too expensive, the distillers/brewers withdrew their sponsorship, and we were all back to paying for rides on those nights.
Some years later, Toronto’s transit system instituted some all-night routes. You still had to pay for your ride, but at least you could get places after closing the bar or when a private party went very late. I well recall riding the Yonge Street all-night bus (coloquially tagged the “Vomit Comet”) from downtown pubs and parties when I was at university in Toronto.
One initiative we have in Canada is known as the “checkstop” (here in the western provinces) or the “RIDE stop” (in Ontario). Basically, the police set up a checkpoint on a street, and stop each private car passing by, asking the driver if he or she has been drinking. If you have, you’re tested on the spot. If you pass, no problem and you’re on your way; if you fail, you’re taken for further testing and possibly arrest and charging–drunk driving is an offense under Canada’s Criminal Code.
Having lived in Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge; I can say that there is very little available to the person who doesn’t want to drink and drive. Pubs and bars may give free soft drinks to the designated driver, but they may not. A car left in a parking lot overnight will often attract a ticket or a tow. Public transit on buses and trains is neither as efficient nor as widespread as it was in Toronto and many routes don’t operate late at night; and fewer taxis mean there are often longer wait times for a cab. When you do get a cab, there is no break on the fare; and since Edmonton and Calgary are so spread out, you can easily spend $30 to $50 or more to get where you want to go. But the checkstops are out there, so you either take your chances with your car or deal with public transit/taxis. It seems rather ironic that we’re bombarded with the “don’t drink and drive” message, but few alternatives are offered to encourage people not to.
We had a program where they would actually have a tow cab driver haul you and your car back home for free. It didn’t last long because holy crap, that’s a very expensive program. I’m pretty sure it was on Fiesta, our major league drunk fest (well, last night, Halloween was running a pretty close second). I never used it, but I know someone who tried it, and it was like a 3 hour wait. Subsidized taxi fares with multiple riders would make a lot more sense.
Yeah, it’s not intended to punish you that way, but sort of works out as a tax on those who don’t plan their drinking. See, plan you’re ride beforehand and you don’t have to leave your car behind.
light strand said:
Does being the DD for yourself count, or do you have to have at least one drinker in tow?
**BrotherCadfael ** said:
Why? Is it because of the “taxi” thing, or the drinking thing?
Darryl Lict said:
But then how do you get your car back? That’s the biggest problem. So you’re out, you drive to the bar, you decide to have a few, then decide you shouldn’t drive. Okay, someone gives you a free ride (taxi, bar owner, random stranger). Great, but the next day you wake up and find your car is across town next to the bar. Who subsidizes that taxi ride?
Yes, obviously if you have the foresight to take a taxi both there and back, you’ve planned ahead enough and don’t have any issues. However, most of the time we go out, we don’t drink enough that driving home is an issue, and we certainly don’t go out with the idea in mind that we ARE going to drink a lot. It would be much more helpful if there was a place to park where if you did have to leave your car that it wasn’t a big deal. Or, like Skylark said, some sort of voucher system where, if you took a taxi home, you could mark your car in a way that you didn’t get a ticket.
Of course, that doesn’t address the very real issue of the city plowing snow off the streets at night. There is a reason for the pricey tickets; they gotta get the snow out of there.
This would only be an issue if you lived in a one-car family. I would guess that the majority of people who live outside cities with good mass transpiration have more than one car available to them.
When I was at Texas A&M University, they had the CARPOOL program, which was a student-run volunteer program where they would go out into town and give folks a ride back home. Our student ID’s had the CARPOOL number on the back, so we could dial them for a ride even if we didn’t think to have the number in our phones. All that was required was a student ID to show we were a student. The drivers were student volunteers, and I think they may have had cars provided by the university, or they could have been using their own vehicles.
In the Air Force, we have AADD (Airmen Against Drunk Driving), similar to CARPOOL mentioned above, except of course that we didn’t have the phone numbers printed on our ID cards. I think on most bases, they give out cards with the number on it, and have the number posted on signs by the gates so you can see them on your way on and off base. At my first tech school base, one of our pieces of “Required Paperwork” was the “Safe Ride Home Card” which had the phone number for AADD, the three biggest taxi companies in town, our squadron commander, and our First Sergeant’s phone number. Dialing any of those numbers would produce a car to take you home, although our Commander did ask that you try every OTHER number BEFORE you called him at 3AM on Saturday.
What I have seen on some bases (Sheppard did it, I have heard talk of them bringing it back here at McConnell), is when someone gets caught driving drunk, they have a big sign at the exit by the main gate indicating when the last DUI was, and which unit was responsible (for example, it might say: 31 October, 69th Maintenance Squadron), and on Friday and Saturday nights from 10PM to 2 or 3AM, a group of airmen (typically the ones who got busted last for DUI or representatives from their unit) holding up a big sign saying “Don’t drink and drive! Call 555-HOME!”), as a form of deterrent. Don’t drink and drive, or next weekend you and your buddies (or you and your supervisors) will be freezing your butts off all night instead of hanging out with your friends.
Oh, and on base here, they also will have a couple of wrecked cars (or for a while, a couple of wrecked boats) with a sign reminding you not to drink and drive.
One thing that’s done here in Calgary is a private initiative - most companies will give taxi chits and subsidize hotel rooms at the hotel where the company Christmas party is being held. The taxi chits are almost universal - the hotel room subsidy is not.
One thing that is NOT being done in Calgary is allowing more taxi licenses so people don’t have to wait hours and hours for cabs on busy nights.
Not to mention cold nights in winter. Nothing like trying to call for a cab in -30 degree weather only to have the dispatcher tell you there will be a two-hour wait, at least. Might as well go back into the pub and drink more–unless it’s past closing and you’re stuck waiting on the street in that cold.
