Impaired drivers: Need a safe ride home? There’s an app….
It was introduced last December, but in the hubbub of the holidays, a popular new app that helps impaired drivers get home safely might have gotten overlooked.
Now, safety advocates in the Portland area, intent on reducing fatal and serious traffic-related events, want to get the word out statewide: the SaferRide app can help you get home when you’re impaired.
SaferRide is an app for mobile phone users developed by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, and it allows users to call a taxi or a friend and identify where they are, so they can easily be picked up.
In the metro Portland area, posters, table tents and brochures with the SaferRide information are being distributed to clubs, pubs, bars and other gathering places.
Representatives from ODOT, Clackamas County, Washington County, Oregon Impact, city of Portland, OLCC, TriMet, OHSU ThinkFirst, AAA, Oregon Health Authority, and Trauma Nurses Talk Tough (TNTT) came up with the idea while brainstorming ideas to tackle Oregon’s rise in crashes. The app is available for Android devices on Google Play , and Apple devices on the iTunes store .
“In Portland alone, impairment is a factor in approximately 60 percent of fatal crashes,” said Dan Estes, DUII Program manager for ODOT. “This app easily and simply helps someone who is impaired get a ride or summon friends and do what it takes to get home safely. This app can accomplish a lot, and people need to know it’s available.”
Statewide, Oregon averages about 130 road-related deaths per year that involve impairment. Impaired driving can come from alcohol, over the counter or prescription drugs, illegal or recreational drugs, or other substances.
Nationally, driving-impaired crashes have been decreasing; still, thousands of people die every year in avoidable tragedies.
A national campaign, ” Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over ” is running through Labor Day weekend, and in Oregon, law enforcement agencies, funded with federal grants through ODOT, are out in force looking for impaired and distracted drivers as well as for people not properly buckled up .
