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.”

Few issues are more loaded or emotionally charged than drinking and driving. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the year 2005 saw 16,885 deaths as the result of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, with countless others that resulted in injuries, emotional trauma and jail time. A 2001 study by two economics professors, Stephen Levitt of the University of Chicago and Jack Porter of Harvard University, reported that “drunk drivers are at least 13 times more likely to cause a fatal car crash than sober drivers.” That may not come as much of a surprise, but this might: Drivers who had been drinking (but were not legally drunk) were seven times likelier than sober drivers to cause a fatal accident. There’s no denying the widespread misconception that driving after you’ve had “just a couple” is fine. Researchers have increasing proof that this isn’t the case, not by a long shot. Even if one’s blood alcohol level isn’t at or above the legal limit, the fact remains that drinking and driving is a selfish, dangerous gamble.

Why People Drink and Drive
Alcohol is a psychoactive substance, albeit a socially acceptable one. As a society, we drink for many reasons: to celebrate, to relax and to comfort ourselves during difficult times. It’s no surprise that we often refer to alcohol as a “social lubricant” – alcohol lowers inhibitions, often causing talkativeness and a general feeling of well-being that’s both physical and emotional. Happy hours, martini lunches, BYOB house parties, and cocktail receptions are integral parts of how we socialize. Because drinking is pleasurable and acceptable, it’s easy to forget that it impairs judgment. It’s even harder to bring this to mind after we’ve had a few and it’s time to drive home.

The aforementioned study revealed that between the hours of 1-3 a.m., an average of 25% of drivers on the road have been drinking. These numbers don’t lie: Plenty of people think it is fine to close the bar down and drive home. During these hours, approximately 60% of fatal car crashes are caused by drunk drivers. Another frightening statistic from that same study reports that “alcohol is a factor in 30% of fatal crashes, which cause 40,000 deaths each year and are the leading cause of death for Americans aged 6-27.”

The Very Real Consequences of Drinking and Driving
One of the most sobering and public examples of what can happen as a result of drinking and driving is the inspiring story of Jacqui Saburido. In September of 1999, at the age of 20, Jacqui and four friends were driving home from a party when their vehicle was struck by a drunk driver, 18-year-old Reggie Stephey. Two of Jacqui’s friends were instantly killed, and Jacqui survived against all odds. Over 60% of her body was burned as she was trapped in the flaming car; she lost all her hair, her nose, one of her eyelids, most of her vision, and some of the fingers on both hands. Jacqui has had over 50 reconstructive surgeries, but she still has a long way to go.

Reggie Stephey was sentenced to seven years in prison and a $20,000 fine following his 2001 conviction for intoxication manslaughter. In the blink of an eye, a drinking and driving accident took the life of Jacqui’s friends and as her site HelpJacqui.org says, “left her dependent, permanently disfigured and in constant pain.” Reggie Stephey has since spoken out against drinking and driving, urging the public to heed his warning: A moment’s bad decision can have consequences that are all too tragic and permanent.

Alcoholism Facts
Any discussion about the dangers of drinking and driving is incomplete without looking at the role of alcoholism. Alcoholism is a disease, and a very real and devastating one at that. Some estimates place the occurrence of this disease at 10% of the population or more. This may sound like an inflated estimate, in large part due to the public misconception that full-blown alcoholism involves living under a bridge and drinking nonstop out of a bottle inside a paper bag.

In reality, alcoholism occurs when a person has lost the power of choice when it comes to drinking. It progresses at different rates in different people, but alcoholism is always progressive. It can be arrested with treatment, but not cured. If, once you start drinking, you find you cannot stop or control the amount you drink, you may have a problem with alcohol.

One frightening symptom of alcoholism is the blackout, a dangerous situation in which the drinker experiences a sort of alcohol-induced functional unconsciousness. Many sober alcoholics have reported countless incidents of driving while in blackouts; they know that it happened because they made it home in their own vehicles, but they have absolutely no memory of driving, or of deciding to do so.

If you think you may have a problem with alcohol, there’s no shame in seeking help and information. Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive and fatal disease. AA.org is a good place to start looking for information about alcoholism and the 12-step method of addiction recovery. Treatment centers, counselors and addiction hotlines can also point you in the right direction if alcohol has caused you unwanted consequences. There is an abundance of information and support available for alcohol and drug addiction on the Internet and in virtually every local community.

In 2006, M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) reported that 17,602 people died in drunk-driving accidents, which averaged out to about one person every half hour. The countless deaths, injuries and legal problems caused by drinking and driving are needless. While it may seem inconvenient to call a taxi if you’ve been out drinking and need to get home, the risk of driving under the influence of alcohol is, quite simply, not worth it.

An estimated three out of 10 American adults will be involved in an alcohol-related car crash at some point in their lives. Don’t be the cause of one of these tragedies: Call a cab or designate a driver.

Do You Drink Too Much?
The one or two glasses of wine you drink at the occasional meal when you dine out are no big deal, but what about the standard two glasses of wine you have with every dinner? Could this love of Chardonnay mean that you drink too much? Many people wonder the same thing – whether or not their drinking habits are over the top. To find out if your drinking habits are out of control, answer these questions honestly in this drinking quiz.

Written By: Liz Davis for LifeScript.com on Nov 1,2007

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

Below is the Safe Rides Unlimited Site Traffic info as found on www.Alexa.com. According to them safe rides unlimited is growing at an extremely high rate and is ranked even higher than some club based sites in NJ. Safe Rides Unlimited website is currently ranked 143,236 in the United States of America.

Reach for Saferidesunlimited.org:

Percent of global Internet users who visit this site

Yesterday	1 wk. Avg.	3 mos. Avg.	3 mos. Change
N/A*	.00008%	.000051%	21%

Traffic Rank for Saferidesunlimited.org:

Alexa traffic rank based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach)

Yesterday	1 wk. Avg.	3 mos. Avg.	3 mos. Change
N/A*	955,71269	35147,141759,21095	475487,23787

Page Views per user for Saferidesunlimited.org:

The number of unique pages viewed per user per day for this site

Yesterday	1 wk. Avg.	3 mos. Avg.	3 mos. Change
N/A*	3	8.1	447.11%

Saferidesunlimited.org users come from these countries:

Saferidesunlimited.org traffic rank in the United States:

Safe Rides Unlimited and its staff started the year with extreme optimism and for good reasons. Safe Rides Unlimited had just finalized the pilot program that had been running for a little over 2 years. SRU’s innovative methods are proving to be extremely effective.

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.