No Excuse For Dui – Your Designated Driver Is Listed Here
Often the difference between a safe journey home and a DUI arrest – or a serious collision – is a small thing. A “what the heck, I’ll drive” decision that should not have been made. A designated driver who bailed at the last minute. A realization that the buses stopped running ten minutes ago.
So begins the decision to drink and drive, a decision that many thousands regret each year.
Now you have no excuses left. If there is a designated driver service near you, it’s never been easier to find. The National Directory of Designated Driver Services (NDDDS) is a web page that lets you find and select designated driver services by state and county. A total of three clicks gets you a phone number to call.
How Designated Driver Services Work
Over the past couple of years services have worked out the logistics. Some drivers arrive in teams of two, one to drive you and your car home and one to pick up the driver afterwards. Other drivers bring along a small collapsible scooter so they can ride off after depositing you safely home.
In some areas designated driving consists of a van that does pickups and drop-offs from and to drinking establishments on a route. It all depends on how things work in different municipalities.
A 21st Century Business
New services are cropping up all the time, thanks to the ease of publicizing a phone number on the Internet. The rise of mobile credit card reading technology has made it easy to run a business on the move. And barriers to entry are low in most places – all you need is a car and a phone. In fact, DrinkingandDriving.org maintains a page for people who want to start their own DD service.
Hall of Shame
A few states – Alabama, New Hampshire, Montana Vermont – do not have a designated driver service yet, though that could change at any moment, given the few barriers to entry. Moreover, taxi companies do operate in those states in a good number of areas, so you might not be left out in the cold. And of course, Uber and other rideshare companies are still spreading like kudzu through the country.
No Excuses. Just Call.
With so many phone numbers and so many drivers waiting to bring you home, there’s no excuse to get behind the wheel if you’re buzzed. And the consequences are so much more costly than DDs – in money, limbs, and lives – that there’s really no argument here.
Shortcut the link to the directory on your phone, and call if you need a designated driver.