St. Patrick’s Day festivities will be in full swing this weekend and the celebration of Irish heritage is getting ready to kick into high gear in large cities and small towns across America. Unfortunately, the celebration with lots of pints of green beer has ended sadly for too many people in this country. Between 2010 and 2014, half of the men killed in car crashes on St. Patrick’s Day died due to drunk driving. From 2009 to 2013, 276 people died as a result of drinking and driving.
The holiday celebration doesn’t have to end in such tragedy. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a division of the Department of Transportation, has touted SaferRide, its app for mobile devices, which can help those who have had a little too much to drink get home safely.
The app allows a person who has had too much to drink choose to either call a taxi or a friend. If the person selects taxi from the app, it will even pull up a full list of local cab companies based on your location. If you’ve been doing a St. Patty’s pub-crawl and don’t know exactly where you are, the app can even locate you and let the cab know where to pick you up. It can also allow you to choose friend and then dial based on your contacts list.
This app is just part of an initiative to curb drunk driving so no one has to suffer the loss of a loved one from this senseless activity. The app is free and can be downloaded for Android devices (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nhtsa.SaferRide) or iOS devices such as iPhones (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/saferride/id950774008?mt=8). Be sure to get the app today so you can be safe this holiday when you get out your green.
