As drunk driving crashes increase every holiday season, Colorado is providing ride-hailing discounts to residents during Thanksgiving, holiday parties and New Year's Eve.
The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), in partnership with Lyft and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, has awarded Colorado and three other states $80,000 in grant funds to promote ride-hailing over driving impaired during the holiday season, according to a news release from the association.
"All traffic fatalities are tragic," GHSA Executive Director Jonathan Adkins said. "But it is especially difficult to hear about drunk- and drug-impaired driving deaths, which we know are 100% preventable, during the holiday season."
Through a statewide campaign, Colorado will provide Lyft credits to encourage people consuming impairing substances to make safe decisions and let someone sober take the wheel. Launched by the Colorado Department of Transportation, "Nothing Uglier than a DUI" is a lighthearted approach to a serious topic.
For the ugly holiday sweater campaign, "Nothing Uglier than a DUI," Colorado residents are urged to show their holiday spirit via seasonal sweaters to redeem Lyft ride credits to and from their destinations safely.
The credits are available during three activation periods — Thanksgiving, holiday parties and New Year's Eve — that coincide with the Colorado Department of Transportation's high-visibility DUI enforcement efforts throughout the state.
"We're pleased to continue our lifesaving work with GHSA and Lyft to supplement the number of ride-hailing credits available, prevent the number of impaired drivers and individuals who get in a car with an impaired driver and make a difference by helping to keep ourselves and others safe this holiday season," Responsibility.org's Vice President Darrin Grondel said.
The campaign comes during one of the most dangerous times on the road, as some who celebrate the holidays consume alcohol or other impairing substances and then decide to drive. The risk is only increasing.
In 2020, about 11,654 people died in drunk-driving crashes, according to the release — that's 32 people every day or a death every 45 minutes. Alcohol-involved fatalities remain higher than the pre-pandemic level in 2019 with fatalities rising by 5% in 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
An increase in ride-hail usage is correlated to a decrease in drunk drivers, research continues to show. A recent analysis found that 85% of 20 prior studies linked ride-hailing to a lower level of alcohol-impaired driving.
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