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There has been some discussion this week on a higher ed discussion board about sober ride programs -- the pro's and con's. Thought I would share a few thoughts. From 1991-1994, I worked for the BACCHUS Peer Education Network, and I dealt with several campuses and Greek communities who were either running or deciding to run one of these programs. Recently, some leaders at the University of Colorado brought the idea up to me. So, I know that this is still a popular idea, and I have a few thoughts to share.
Sober ride programs are pretty wide-spread. The idea being that on weekend nights (and any other common partying nights at a particular campus), you can call a certain number, and someone will come and give you a sober ride home. These programs are run by volunteers who either use their own cars or use university vehicles.
The students who get excited about these programs have good intentions. They are providing safe rides home, and they feel like they are both saving lives by discouraging impaired driving and possibly preventing sexual assault situations by getting young, intoxicated women home safely.
There are a heap of pretty significant negatives though. The big one, as usual, is liability. You've got the potential for vehicle crashes, alcohol poisonings, and such. You also usually get puke all over the vehicles, and that's not a lot of fun to clean out at 3 a.m. Usually these programs start with a bevy of volunteers, but eventually the novelty wears off, and it's hard to get people to sign up with a good and willing attitude.
There is also the potential for people to use your sober ride program as a personal taxi service. Some people believe that these programs actually encourage people to over-indulge. (I don't agree with that. It's the same argument that those against condom distribution make about the motivation to have sex. But, whatever).
There are also expenses: the cell phone, the gas, the parking, training for the volunteers, etc. Plus, you have to make sure you always have a man and a woman in the sober ride vehicle, because you can't have a lone guy driving drunk women home. There is always the possibility of abuse by the volunteers who are supposed to be helping.
My conclusion over these years has been that sober ride programs are a giant pain in the ass. They are incredibly high maintenance and the use of them declines significantly over a short period of time. I think there's a better way to do it.
One Greek community (I wish I could remember which one... it's been too many years to remember) did a variation of the program that I thought was brilliant. They contracted with a local cab company and worked with them to create "Greek Taxi Vouchers." These were distributed liberally to Greek members and these vouchers were good for a one-way ride from the bar district to any one of the Greek houses (no other routing). This particular Greek community negotiated a flat rate with the cab company (let's say $4 per coupon the cab company collected), and the Greek Councils settled up with the cab company at the end of each month.
Sounds expensive, but it wasn't actually. As I remember it, their total bill was under $300 a month, which was significantly less expensive than administering a sober ride program. Best of all, they had none of the liability. The cab company's was responsible, just as they would be for any other passenger.
The only negative I remember was that students weren't dependably tipping the cab drivers, so the Greek community threw in some extra money to be distributed to the cab drivers later on.
A student government could do the same thing by allowing students to simply show an ID to the cab driver and sign a voucher.
Providing sober rides is a wonderful idea, but with a little creativity, you can find a better way to do it.
