Don't drink and drive: SoberRide providing free rides home as New Year's Eve arrives

WASHINGTON - If you're planning to be out in the D.C. area on New Year's Eve, officials are hoping you leave your car keys at home if you plan on celebrating with alcohol. In fact, free rides are being offered to revelers to keep drunk drivers off the roads during the holiday weekend.

The Washington Regional Alcohol Program is teaming up with Lyft to provide free rides for its annual holiday SoberRide program.

From 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. nightly until Jan. 1, residents who are ages 21 and older can get a ride home from Lyft at no cost (for up to $15) using a designated code in the Lyft app's "Promo" section. Limited promo codes are available and new codes will be posted on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. at www.soberride.com.

These rides are being offered in areas that include Washington D.C., Montgomery and Prince George's County in Maryland, and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties in Virginia.

SoberRide debuted in 1991 and has provided more than 68,706 free safe rides in the D.C. area.

"Teaming with Lyft is proving to be a game-changer for SoberRide: So far in 2017 we've removed more than three times as many would-be drunk drivers from our roads as we did in the previous year," said John Undeland, former Washington Regional Alcohol Program chairman and current board member. "We can't think of a better gift this holiday season than lives saved and tragedies averted as a result of this success."