Recently a study was conducted to see if people who use a FREE safe ride drank more.  We at safe rides believe that offereing FREE safe rides is not the answer since it leave people with more money and a greater incentive to start abusing alcohol.  The key is to find the right balance between making the rides as cost effective as possible, while still allowing people to enjoy the night out. below is the article that was found on ScienceDirect.com

Wayne M. Harding^{, , a, b}, Barry D. Caudill^c, Brent A. Moore^c and Kevin C. Frissell^c 

A 23-year-old Colonia man wept uncontrollably in court this afternoon as his attorney told a judge the young man was not guilty of causing the alleged drunk-driving crash that killed a Perth Amboy police officer and injured two passengers last week. Tears streamed down Sean McGuirk’s cheeks as he stood before a judge in the Middlesex County Courthouse to face charges including vehicular homicide in the death of Officer Thomas Raji, 31.

McGuirk dabbed at his eyes, his face twisted in anguish, as Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Nicholas Sewitch recounted the criminal charges. Raji’s widow, Marisol ”Mimi” Raji, a Perth Amboy police officer who is several months pregnant with the couple’s first child, watched intently from the front row of the fifth-floor courtroom. More than 30 Perth Amboy police officers accompanied the widow to the brief hearing, packing one side of the courtroom.

Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz continued McGuirk’s bail at $100,000, but suspended his driving privileges until the charges are resolved. After the hearing, McGuirk, the brother of a Woodbridge police officer, slumped in a seat and tried to compose himself. His attorney, David Shivas, declined to comment.  If convicted, McGuirk faces as much as 20 years in prison. He was released on bail after being charged with killing Raji and injuring Officer Matthew Mercurio and their passenger, Gregory Efford, a prisoner who was being held on a warrant from Rahway. Raji, a police officer for 10 years, and Mercurio were transporting Efford to the Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick about 3:45 a.m. Friday when their cruiser, a 2005 Crown Victoria, was broadsided by a Nissan Altima crossing Route 1 at Green Street in Woodbridge. The crash site is about a half-mile from the Woodbridge Center mall.  Raji, who was driving, was pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Mercurio, 42, suffered broken ribs. The prisoner suffered minor injuries, authorities said.  In addition to homicide and assault, McGuirk was charged with drunk-driving, reckless driving, and running two red lights at the intersection. The charges were filed after blood-alcohol testing gave a reading of 0.107 percent, authorities said. The legal limit is 0.08.  Raji was the first Perth Amboy officer to be killed in the line of duty, city officials said. A Perth Amboy native, he joined the force in 1999. He was the second police officer to die in a traffic accident in Middlesex County in 10 days. North Brunswick Lt. Christopher Zerby, 41, was killed on Route 130 in the township on Aug. 12. Zerby had been a passenger in a rented Dodge Viper sports car driven by a fellow officer. The vehicle veered off the highway just south of Route 1.

Requiring that even light drinkers use breathalyzers in their cars is going too far.

 By Sarah Longwell

Last week, the House transportation committee unveiled the details of a six-year, $450 billion highway bill. Buried within is a controversial sentencing requirement for low-level, first-time drunken-driving offenders: ignition interlocks.

These in-car breathalyzers prevent vehicles from starting if a driver’s breath registers above a preset blood-alcohol concentration. Because they are so expensive, intrusive, and prone to technical failures, this penalty has typically been reserved for the most extreme offenders.

If the bill passes in its current form, Mothers Against Drunk Driving will be one step closer to its goal of prohibiting responsible adults from having a glass of wine with dinner before driving home.

The hospitality industry has already been working with traffic-safety advocates to require ignition interlocks for repeat offenders caught with high blood-alcohol concentrations. We’ve succeeded in 27 states. But under the new transportation bill, those states will be penalized if they do not impose the devices on first-time offenders – even those just one sip over the legal limit.

A 120-pound woman can reach the legal limit of 0.08 percent after two 6-ounce glasses of wine in a two-hour period. Under this proposed mandate, if such a woman drives, she could be punished with an interlock device – for behavior that is, according to several studies, no more dangerous than driving while talking on a hands-free cell phone.

Mandating ignition interlocks for all drunken-driving offenders is a one-size-fits-all approach, inflicting the same punishment on that woman and the hardcore abusers who cause the vast majority of alcohol-related fatalities. It eliminates a judge’s ability to treat different offenders differently, and America’s criminal-justice system has a terrible record with mandatory minimum sentences.

Most state legislatures have already made it clear that they favor judicial discretion, rejecting mandates for low-blood-alcohol, first-time offenders, or passing ignition-interlock bills that target high-blood-alcohol, repeat offenders. Their decisions are supported by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics showing that most alcohol-related fatalities involve offenders at more than twice the legal limit.

But, under pressure from MADD, the House is poised to force those legislatures to change their laws. To those who recall the debate over lowering the legal limit from 0.10 to 0.08 percent, it’s a familiar scenario.

In 1998, Congress approved highway-funding sanctions for states that would not lower their limits after MADD insisted that doing so would save thousands of lives. It didn’t: In 2007, the number of alcohol-related fatalities was roughly the same as 10 years earlier.

In 2006, MADD projected that ignition-interlock technology – set to prevent driving at blood-alcohol levels as low as 0.02 percent – could be “standard equipment” for all American vehicles within 10 years. Three years later, we are already on the verge of requiring the devices even for marginal offenders.

If MADD’s latest push goes forward unabated, it won’t be long until your car is forbidding you from driving home after a champagne toast at a wedding or a beer at a baseball game.

Safe Rides Unlimited and Bliss have had a long partnership even before the launch of the black card to prevent people from drinking and driving.  Bliss formerly known as Joeys in clifton was the first venue to join Safe Rides over 5 years ago.  Since then bliss management and SRU have worked together to come up with new and effective ways to offer safe rides to people.  This Black Card offer is just another proof that Bliss and SRU are dedicated to achieving a goal of transforming the way people enjoy night life.

All Bliss Black Card holders will receive an additional 5% off their donation to safe rides when they utilize a safe ride.  All the card holders need to do is mention at time of reserving a safe ride that they are a card holder and show the card to the driver at time of pickup to receive the discount.

For more details please call us @ 888.656.SAFE

Moe Sattar Founder of Safe Rides Unlimited said “All the messaging campaigns are great but they don’t really give us an actual alternative.”  He also stated that “college students and general public are more than accepting of a real solutions.  The proof of such a statement is in the phone calls that come in by the hundreds from people praising our services and making safe ride reservations.”

The bottom line in this whole thing is this.  Drunk driving can be reduced to nearly non existent if advertisers realize that instead of wasting money on messages, lets provide people with a choice.  A choice that would allow people to make the right decision.  A choice that will be a lot more effective in reducing alcohol industry liabilities.  A choice that will be profitable to all parties involved from the users to the providers. A choice that will make people responsible for their actions instead of blaming them on lack of alternatives. Safe Rides Unlimited is a testament to such a choice.

Lets allow our minds to become creative so we can get away from talking and start taking action.  Lets explore options and with that we will have made the greatest change in the old mentality.  A Mentality that did not allow you to even think about any available alternatives to a mentality that knows that we can be safe and have fun by simply using Safe Rides Unlimited.

Mr. Sattar stated he is extremely pleased with the prospects of partnering with the two sites.  He also said that together SRU and its partners will make nightlife information streamlined for the public.  Now people will have the ability to interact directly with the people that run their favorite venues.

Specific details of the partnership were not disclosed but Mr. Sattar assured the details will be made available in the near future.  So far we know that favbars.com is powering the new venue system on Safe Rides Unlimited website.

We look forward to see what comes out of this seemingly excellent partnership. Stay tuned…

Safe Rides Unlimited and its staff greatly appreciates your support.

http://www.petitiononline.com/SRUSRU/petition.html

Thank you

On Friday Aug 22, 2008 Safe Rides Unlimited founder/president Amanat Moe Sattar informed that Safe Rides Unlimited has entered into contract with Cablevision subsidiary Rainbow Advertisments. The purpose of this contract is to bring the message to the masses by conducting a year long tv ad campaign. According to Mr. Sattar SRU is entering this contract because of tremendous success of the program and its ability to serve even more users every week. He hopes this campaign will help spread the message of a real available alternative to drunk driving faster and to a larger audience. This tv ad campaign will air over 50 ads per week starting with Northern NJ. Networks that will air ads include MTV, VH1, E, FX, Comedy Central and a few other popular channels. Mr. Sattar says he is very optimistic about the results from this campaign.

SRU currently provides over 500 people with safe ride services. Thats over 500 people that utilize the life saving roundtrip safe rides, pay no cover charges at clubs and don’t wait on any lines. According to Mr. Sattar, SRU safe rides require a per person donation of usually what most clubs charge for cover. In simpler words SRU rides are practically free if you consider that you would have to pay cover charge and/or wait on lines if you did not use SRU safe rides, not to mention SRU helps avoid all the other hassels that come along with driving if your going for a night on the town.

The idea that people can now get round trip luxury safe rides that cost normally as much as what someone would pay for cover charge at club. This makes the ride practically free since SRU users do not have to pay the covers or wait onlines at SRU member venues.

SRU’s initial obstacles were due to the fact most individuals could not believe they can prevent themselves from driving drunk and save money at the same time. It was hard to believe it can be so much fun to get the VIP experience as a reward for making the right choice. SRU utilized the support of its member venues to help spread the message. According to Amanat Moe Sattar Safe Rides Unlimited Founder/President; SRU would not be successful if they did not receive support from venue owners and individuals like Joe Barcelona (owner of Bliss formerly known as Joey’s) Sergio Tiggs and Tommy D who offered their guidance and help bring the program to the masses.

Today SRU is proud to say that its user base has grown to numbers that exceed all expections for a program just introduced to the general public. The results from pilot program were good but no one expected to providing over 500 safe rides a week as soon as they launched. Safe Rides Unlimited is looking forward to having an amazing and successful second half of the year.

The difference between all other Safe Ride programs and SRU is simple. SRU was designed as the first and only program to be self sustaining. SRU simply asks people to directly utilize their donation for a safe ride thru SRU. This donation amount is usually what they would pay as cover charge at most venues. In return of their donation SRU users receive a round trip Safe Ride to and from the club in luxury vehicles. This Safe Ride model helps pay for the operational costs and helps SRU be self sustaining. People can still donate but now their donation is immidiately giving them results in form of a safe ride.

Another major reason for Safe Rides Unlimited’s success is unlike most safe ride programs SRU welcomes alcohol serving venues into its efforts and utlizes their help to offer incentive to safe ride users. Incentives such as not paying cover charges or waiting on lines at clubs, such incentives actually make it cheaper for people to use safe rides than to drive. Safe Rides Unlimited has been growing at a steady pace since its inception and has not needed to solicit outside funds. Not to say SRU would not accept funding but the simple fact is SRU’s program is not dependent or suceptable to outside sources that may control its success.

Today Safe Rides Unlimited is providing safe rides to over 500 people every week and even though once in a while there are small issues, 99% of the time SRU is able to provide an extremely high level of service to its users. This is the reason why Safe Rides Unlimited is successful.