Delaware Office of Highway Safety Launches Sober Rides Initiative and Kicks Off Winter Holiday Road Safety Campaign

OHS expands sober rideshare program just in time for the Safe Family Holiday campaign to encourage Delawareans to follow safety protocols covering driving under the influence, speeding, distracted driving, and pedestrians during the busy and festive holiday season.

DOVER, Del. (November 21, 2024) - Today the Delaware Office of Highway Safety (OHS) kicked off its statewide winter holiday road safety campaign - an integrated communications and engagement effort to prevent crashes during one of the heaviest travel times of the year for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. This year, OHS is integrating two successful initiatives to broaden the reach of the campaign and specifically target higher-risk populations with messaging that will resonate with them.

First, OHS introduces Sober Rides, a new generation of its annual initiative to discourage DUI/DUID crashes. This year, OHS is providing vouchers of up to $20 from Sober Rides partners Lyft® and Uber during designated times. In addition, Delawareans will see the return of Safe Family Holiday, an initiative encouraging best practices around four key road safety issues: DUI/DUID, speeding, occupant protection/distracted driving, and pedestrian activities. The momentum driving both initiatives began earlier this fall with the introduction of the "Drive Safe Delaware. Love Your Neighbor." campaign. This extended and integrated marketing and communications strategy embraces multiple elements of roadway safety. "Love Your Neighbor" branding and messaging is being continued through Sober Rides and Safe Family Holiday, providing cohesiveness for those initiatives.

Both campaigns leverage local law enforcement, first responders, and community partners to encourage safer driving and walking choices on Delaware roadways.

"Unfortunately, what should be one of the happiest times of the year for Delawareans can quickly turn into a tragic time," said Sharon Bryson, Director, Delaware Office of Highway Safety. "OHS is grateful to have community partners including law enforcement, financial sponsors, and local businesses and organizations that are helping us spread our message. Their support allows us to combine and expand these two impactful campaigns. We are especially excited to announce that we now have partnerships with the two largest rideshare services, Lyft and Uber, for our Sober Rides initiative. By making resources like these more accessible, we can do more to ensure that Delawareans arrive alive this holiday season."

Between 2019 and 2023, Delaware experienced 331 DUI related crashes that resulted in fatalities or serious injury. One contributing factor to crashes around the holidays is a general increased presence of traffic and pedestrians on the roadways. Whether you are walking or driving, make sure to eliminate distractions and always drive and walk sober. If you are planning on consuming alcohol or any other substances during holiday celebrations, make sure to plan a ride home. Use the resources available to you and take advantage of these discounts on rideshares.

Sober Rides

For the first time in five years, the OHS initiative incentivizing Delawareans not to get behind the wheel if they've been drinking includes rideshare vouchers of up to $20 from both Lyft and Uber. OHS worked closely with these two Sober Rides partners to make it as easy as possible for people to take advantage of this opportunity. A person anywhere in the state just needs to scan a QR code (linking to the OHS website) found on campaign posters, table tents, flyers, and other materials. Once a user is on the website, they can click to have the voucher directly deposited into their preferred ride-sharing app to be used for a safe ride during these time frames:

• Thanksgiving - Wednesday, Nov. 27, at 5 p.m., through Thursday, Nov. 28, at 2 a.m.
• New Year's Eve 2024 - Tuesday, Dec. 31, at 5 p.m., through Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at 2 a.m.

Participating bars, restaurants, wineries, breweries, liquor stores, car dealerships, beverage distributors, and insurance agencies statewide will be displaying Sober Rides materials. In addition, street teams will engage Delaware patrons at several bars the weekend before Thanksgiving. The Delaware business community also stepped up as sponsors to provide funding for the ride-share vouchers.

"Breakthru Beverage proudly supports many important community-focused programs across our national footprint and here in Delaware," said Tim Daning, Breakthru Beverage Delaware Executive Vice President. "The Sober Rides initiative serves a vital role in Delaware, and we are committed to supporting safety and responsibility programs such as this. We encourage everyone celebrating this season to take advantage of this program."

Safe Family Holiday

The OHS Safe Family Holiday initiative has become a "holiday tradition," especially at seasonal festivals throughout the state. This year, street teams will attend two events in each county, engaging festivalgoers with safe driving trivia, fun and shareable photo opportunities, and other activities that promote safe driving and pedestrian tips. Safe Family Holiday messaging will be tailored to specific communities, with the entire campaign covering four key roadway safety issues. Communications will be concentrated around times that typically see higher incidents for each issue:

• Driving under the influence - Nov. 27 through Jan. 25
• Occupant protection/distracted driving - Nov. 16 through Jan. 1
• Pedestrian Safety - Nov. 17 through Dec. 30
• Speeding - Dec. 13 through Dec. 30

Safe Family Holiday collateral is being distributed at popular holiday destinations/attractions in Delaware as well as by partners including faith-based communities, police departments, bars and restaurants, liquor stores, cannabis shops, homeless shelters, phone providers, middle schools, retail outlets, and DART.

About the Delaware Office of Highway Safety

The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is committed to improving the safety of Delaware's motoring public by focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues such as impaired driving, seat belt use, speeding, child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety, and teen driving issues. FAQs can be found at ArriveAliveDE.com. Follow OHS on the Delaware Office of Highway Safety website, Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, and TikTok.

Media Contact:
Meghan Niddrie
[email protected]
302-744-2517

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