SAN ANTONIO – With highway signs reminding drivers "buzzed driving is drunk driving" and stepped up patrols by local and state law enforcement, ride service companies are urging those ringing in the new year with a cocktail or two (or more) to make a plan for a safe ride home.
Yellowcab Taxi, along with the ride-sharing companies UBER and Lyft, have apps making it easy to request a ride.
Lyft and UBER have joined up with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to encourage revelers to plan ahead.
Lyft is donating $1 to MADD for every person who makes a pledge to travel safely through New Year's Day. By early Tuesday evening, the company had more than 10,000 pledges to reach its maximum donation of $10,000.
UBER is donating $1 to MADD for every person who enters the promo code MADDNYE when booking a ride.
UBER also warned potential passengers to request a ride right at midnight or face higher rates. The company said fairs will go up during the peak hours of 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Prices are expected to drop after that time.
At the start of holiday season, the San Antonio Police Department, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety stepped up patrols to crack down on drunk driving.
Bexar County has a "No Refusal" policy, which requires drivers suspected of driving while intoxicated to provide a breath or blood specimen.
The District Attorney's website provided these numbers for 2014:
- 5,434 DWI 1st offense(which includes: DWI 1st, DWI open container, and DWI blood alcohol content .15 and greater)
- 1,021 DWI 2nd offense
- 687 DWI 3rd offense, or more
- 139 DWI with child passenger (younger than 15)
- 30 Intoxication assaults
- 11 Intoxication manslaughters
- 7,322 Total DWI arrests, with blood draws in 3,535 of those cases