This weekend, residents in Northern Virginia may spot an unusual sight in the neighborhood: a hot pink police car.
The vehicle sports a bright pink hood and roof that wraps down to a white body with the Arlington police department logo across the side. But it’s no typical cruiser: the words “SoberRide” and “Lyft” sit above the police letters.
“Its primary use will be to serve as a high-visibility reminder to the public to take a sober ride home,” police spokesperson Kirby Clark told The Washington Times in an interview Thursday morning.
The “SoberRide” car is the result of a partnership between the police, ride-sharing company Lyft and the Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) to curb drunk driving in the area by reminding people to designate drivers when going out, or take a Lyft home before driving under the influence.
Lyft, which has a regional office is in Crystal City, paid for the detailing on the car. The local headquarters’ general manager, Steve Taylor, said in a statement on Thursday that Lyft is “proud” of the collaboration.
“We’ve worked closely with WRAP for over a year to provide reliable and affordable transportation for those who are out celebrating and need a responsible ride home,” Mr. Taylor wrote. “Lyft is committed to reducing impaired driving and we’re glad to partner with WRAP and the Arlington PD on this effort.”
Over the past year, Lyft has teamed up with WRAP, a nonprofit based in Falls Church that has organized to bring down the rates of drunk driving since 1982. WRAP has provided 72,377 free rides home for holiday party-goers since 1991 by raising money for fare vouchers.
“This used to be a cab paradigm but as of 2017 we exclusively use Lyft,” said WRAP president Kurt Gregory Erickson, who told The Times he switched because the ride-sharing costs an average of $12 a ride compared to the $24 average for cabs.
Mr. Erickson said WRAP also switched their vouchers to ride-sharing because the service was more common among the demographic most likely to drive under the influence — 21- to 31-year-old men — whom he said considers calling cabs with their phone to be “antiquated.”
Nationally, the number of people dying from drunk driving accidents has decreased from 2014, but the decline is especially steep in the greater Washington area. Only 59 people died in drunk driving accidents in 2016, compared to 88 people in 2014, according to data collated by WRAP and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
In 2016, 14,398 people in the greater Washington area were arrested on DUI charges, down from 16,054 in 2014. Traffic accidents due to drunk driving increased to 4,405 in 2016 from 4,217 in 2014, and alcohol-related traffic injuries dropped to 2,041 in 2016 from 2,157 in 2014.
“You have more people annually arrested for drunk driving than live in Falls Church and Upper Marlboro combined,” said Mr. Erickson, who hopes the new SoberRide car will serve as a “mobile billboard” that people can either go home in a Lyft or in a police car with a DUI charge.
In 2012 WRAP collaborated with the Arlington police department to spread the same message with a “Chooser Cruiser”: half taxi-cab, half police car.
The new 2018 vehicle is a two-door 2004 BMW 330ci which police re-purposed after seizing it in a narcotics bust.
The car will be parked in Clarendon this weekend, Ms. Clark says, “to spark conversation” about drunk driving and will be visiting other community over the coming weeks. Police plan to park the SoberRide car outside nightclubs in the future.
• Julia Airey can be reached at jairey@washingtontimes.com.
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