Evesham Saves Lives will live on, for now.
At a press conference on Oct. 15, Evesham officials announced an extension through Jan. 2 of the town’s Evesham Saves Lives program, which seeks to combat drunk driving by offering intoxicated residents free rides home from establishments in town.
Mayor Randy Brown said the extension comes after the end of the 30-day pilot program that ran throughout September, where a combination of shuttles provided by the town and drivers from the Sober Sam designated driver service safely transported 350 people to their homes.
“We took 350 people off the road,” Brown said. “In my opinion, as a public servant, it’s your job to keep your residents as safe as possible.”
During the 30-day pilot, Evesham residents who believed they were too drunk to drive could use the Evesham Township mobile app to request a ride to their home for free.
While that free aspect isn’t changing moving forward, what is changing about the program is the addition of private taxi service Uber, along with the addition of designated driver service BEMYDD, where a pair of drivers brings users and their cars home together.
Brown said the use of Uber and BEMYDD were more flexible and cost effective than the township shuttles and the Sober Sam service and could get to establishments faster.
Ana Mahony, general manager of Uber for New Jersey, said Uber was excited to be a part of this “first of its kind” partnership.
Mahony cited a joint study Uber released with Mothers Against Drunk Driving that found demand for Uber spikes in communities at the same time that bars are closing, and drunk driving-related accidents go down in areas where Uber operates.
“We have measurable data that these kinds of partnerships and Uber’s activity in a community truly does help solve the problem, and for that we’re incredibly proud to be standing up here with Evesham Township,” Mahony said.
BEMYDD vice president of marketing Alexa Milkovich said services such as BEMYDD help stop situations where drivers might only be a few miles from home and contemplate taking the risk of driving while intoxicated because they need their car the next day.
Evesham Police Chief Christopher Chew said in addition to saving lives, the program also helps save the department time and money by reducing the number of DWIs it has to handle.
“We’re taking people out there, arresting somebody, we’re taking two officers off the street to come in and process the individual. God forbid there’s a crash, if there’s a crash, it takes several officers, several weeks and months in a year to finalize a report,” Chew said.
Chew said from January through August, there were 35 individuals arrested for DWI in Evesham who said they were coming from businesses in town.
Since instituting the Evesham Saves Lives program, Chew said of those arrested for DWI, none said they were coming from local establishments.
As with the original pilot program, Brown said no taxpayer dollars would go toward funding the program, as donations from the Evesham Celebrations Foundation, as well as anonymous donors in town, would handle any costs.
Brown said some restaurants and other establishments have also already donated to the program, although they won’t be required to do so until after these next 60 days are over and the town can use collected data to determine what would be a fair contribution.
The safe ride program will be available from the hours of 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. from the following locations: Bertucci’s, Bonefish Grill, Brio Tuscan Grille, Carrabbas Italian Grill, Casa Carollo Bar & Grill, Champps Kitchen + Bar, Estia Greek Taverna, Evesham Memorial VFW Post, Fleming Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, The Links Country Club, Little Mill Country Club, Marco’s Restaurant, Marlton Elk’s Lodge, Marlton Tavern, The Mexican Food Factory, Mikado, Outback Steakhouse, PF Chang’s, Redstone American Grill, Scaturro’s and TGI Fridays.
“Be responsible at the end of the night and take this free ride home when we give it to you,” Brown said.
