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Safe Ride vouchers available New Year's Eve

JANESVILLE — Here's a suggestion for a New Year's resolution: Remember to ask your bartender for a Safe Ride voucher.

The vouchers certainly will be available if you need a ride home after celebrating tonight at a Rock County Tavern League bar. But they're available all year long and have been gaining popularity in the last year, program organizers said.

Rock County's Safe Ride program started four years ago, said Sharon Hoskins, owner of Wedge Inn East and East Point Sportz Pub in Janesville.

Now it's providing between 100 and 150 rides home per month to Rock County residents who think they've had too much to drink, said Kelly Richards, owner of Deano's Westside Pub.

More and more people are getting in the habit of asking for Safe Rides, Hoskins said.

"They're thinking, 'I don't have to try to do this, I can just call somebody,'" Hoskins said.

And a handful of bars have been pushing their bartenders to help patrons who need them to arrange for rides home.

The program is free for riders and available at any bar that's a member of the tavern league. Patrons can fill out vouchers and get rides to their home addresses anywhere in Rock County, Richards said.

The service may not be used for rides between bars.

The bar pays the driver right away and turns the voucher in to the tavern league for reimbursement.

The first choice for rides is Janesville City Taxi. But, if there's a wait, bartenders also can turn to a list of "Good Samaritan" drivers, Hoskins said.

Those are people who have signed up to be safe drivers. To participate, drivers must be older than 18, have car insurance and be absolutely sober.

And, of course, you have to be able to put up with drunk people, Hoskins said.

The work has been a nice cash job for a few local residents, she said.

It works best when bars have a "go-to" list of Good Samaritan drivers from the neighborhood, so talk to your favorite bartender if you'd like to participate, she said.

The first goal is preventing intoxicated people from driving. But the program has been a nice public service project for local tavern league members and a nice customers service to offer patrons, Richards said.

"It's a good thing for all the bars," she said.