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

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MADD is hogging the road

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.

The article below shows that drunk driving accidents in NJ are declining.  Even though it does not mention Safe Rides Unlimited or any other organization as a reason for the decline.  We at SRU would like to believe that the 1000 or more people that use SRU instead of driving drunk are the ones that should be praised.  With your help we have proven that people will make the right choice granted they have the available options.

When asked SRU Founder Moe Sattar commented on the article and thanked people who made the right choice by not driving drunk.

Article taken from: http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics-new-jersey.html

The number of alcohol-related deaths in New Jersey has dropped significantly from a high of 622 in 1982, to a low of 263 in 2005. The percentage of fatalities that were alcohol related has also dropped steadily, from a high of 59% in 1982, to a low of 35% in 1996 and 2005. In 2006, out of all traffic fatalities, 29% involved a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 or higher.

The table above shows the total number of traffic fatalities (Tot) for the New Jersey, alcohol related fatalities (Alc-Rel) and fatalities in crashes where the highest BAC in the crash was 0.08 or above (0.08+).

All 50 states in the US now apply two statutory offenses to operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The first (and original) offense is known either as driving under the influence (DUI), driving while intoxicated/impaired (DWI), or operating while intoxicated/impaired (OWI). This is based upon a police officer’s observations (driving behavior, slurred speech, the results of a roadside sobriety test, etc.)

The second offense is called “illegal per se”, which is driving with a BAC of 0.08% or higher. Since 2002 it has been illegal in all 50 states to drive with a BAC that is 0.08% or higher.

It is important to note that the New Jersey drunk driving statistics, as shown above, include data from individuals who were in an alcohol-related crash, but not driving a motor vehicle at the time. The U.S. Department of Transportation defines alcohol-related deaths as “fatalities that occur in crashes where at least one driver or non-occupant (pedestrian or bicyclist) involved in the crash has a positive Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) value.”

On October 25th 2008, SRU Founder Amanat Moe Sattar announced a partnership between Bliss Lounge and Safe Rides to offer people even more incentives to party smart.  This partnership was put together with the help of NY, NJ’s premier night life promoter Sergio Tiggs (a long time SRU adviser).  Bliss will offer a black card to its customers that provides discounts not just from bliss but from Safe Rides Unlimited.

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

That’s the new catch phrase in the Kahlua advertisements.  They could not have been more correct.   Drunk driving does start with an excuse “I’m not going to drink too much therefore its ok if I drive” “I’ll have one of my friends drive on the way back” “I’m not that drunk” “I’ve driven when I was in much worse shape so I’ll be ok”, the list can go on forever.  However the most important excuse has become embedded into our psyche “I don’t have any other way of getting to and from the club”.  In a survey conducted by SRU over 90% of people going out claimed how else would they get to and from the club.  These individuals claimed they didn’t think any drunk driving incident could happen to them. Worse yet all of the individuals claimed campaigns that instruct us to be responsible drinkers never even became a thought when going out. Lately alcohol industry has been placing messages at the end of their commercials such as “Drink Responsibly” etc.  When we asked, students remembered the ad but surprisingly said they didn’t remember the drink responsibility part or they didn’t really pay attention to it.  They all remembered the rest of the ad.  It seems that these drink responsibly ads have become more of a formality than to have an actual effect and therefore are being ignored.

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.

Safe Rides Unlimited founder Moe Sattar informed us that SRU will be joining forces with Favbars.com, a complete night club directory website that operates like myspace where clubs can create profiles.  General public can than become fans of their favorite clubs and receive updates automatically.  Secondly, SRU is also joining forces with Snapfoo.com, an extremely cool and efficient photo blogging site.  Snapfoo.com allows people to take pics via their phones and email them directly to their profiles on favbars.com or other networking sites.

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 was mentioned in this Time Out NY article as a service providing affordable safe rides to people.

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/spas-sport/9097/safety-first

This is extremely important and will help safe ride grow and make its services available to everyone.  Please use the link in this post to read the petition posted by safe rides unlimited, if you agree with us please sign it so that we can gather as many signatures as possible. http://www.petitiononline.com/SRUSRU/petition.html

Safe Rides Unlimited and its staff greatly appreciates your support.

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

Thank you

All Safe Ride programs are initiated with the best of intentions. The people that start these programs really truly want to make a difference, most programs do make a difference but only a few are able to last. The main reason for many programs to fail is lack of funding. Safe Ride programs are usually designed to be dependent on outside funding, either thru major sponsors, donations or state. The question is why does the funding run out and the answer is simple once these safe ride programs start showing results, the funding disappears for the simple fact funders see it as mission accomplished no more reason to keep spending money. The truth is that at this is the time safe ride programs need funding the most to continue as their demand has grown and they need to sustain their operational costs.

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.

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Feb. 26, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — SYN3 Safe Ride(TM) will begin offering free, door-to-door shuttle-service for patrons of Molly’s Bar & Grill (26 Ridge Road, North Arlington, NJ) beginning Friday, March 9. In an attempt at reducing traffic for residents of North Arlington and in keeping with the company’s goal of curbing drunk-driving fatalities, SYN3 Safe Ride will pick-up patrons of Molly’s Bar & Grill who reside in the towns of Lyndhurst, Rutherford, Kearny and North Arlington at their homes, transport them to the venue, and drive them home at the end of their evenings. This complimentary service is available daily from 4:00PM until 2:00AM.

Says Moe Sattar, founder of SYN3 Safe Ride, “We currently have over 5,000 paying customers in the New York Tri-State area servicing the bigger nightclubs and bars. We thought it’d be a natural extension of our philosophy to partner with the smaller venues and provide this free local shuttle. Our goal is not to encourage excessive drinking, rather to offer adult patrons a responsible alternative to drunk-driving.” If the North Arlington free-shuttle project is successful, SYN3 promises to expand the complimentary shuttle-service to other bars and their surrounding towns. Upon hearing the news, Taste Lounge in Bloomfield, NJ, signed-on to offer the same free shuttles for its patrons. Said Molly’s owner, Victor Fernandi, “If we save just one life with this service, it’ll be a success.”

Founded in 2003, SYN3 Safe Ride aims to reduce drunk-driving statistics while supporting the licensed bar/restaurant/nightclub industry. While non-profit organizations like MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) preach for an end to drinking altogether, SYN3 realizes that a call for alcoholic abstinence is unrealistic. Sattar says, “I’m at BLISS in New Jersey right now and there are a thousand people in here! It’s simply not realistic to expect people to stop going out altogether. We’re not telling adults to stop going out; we’re simply offering them a safe way to get home if they’ve been drinking.”

Already, SYN3′s inboxes are full with customers and members praising their service. A PR and marketing campaign is about to launch, and existing “member” venues have seen an increase in their bottomlines. Says the owner of one Manhattan superclub that is a SYN3 member, “It takes a weight off my shoulders knowing that the guests brought to my club by SYN3 will definitely not be driving home drunk. In fact, my insurance premiums have gone down as a result of having a SYN3 certificate on my wall.”

To join the SYN3 Safe Ride network, or to schedule a Safe Ride, call (888) USE-SYN3.

SYN3 Safe Ride is coming soon to Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other major U.S. cities. For more information on Safe Rides Unlimited visit www.SafeRidesUnlimited.org