Get Free Lyft Rides For Fourth Of July In Montgomery County

SILVER SPRING, MD — While many people are excited to celebrate the Fourth of July, don't risk your life or others when partying in Montgomery County. The nonprofit organization Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) partnered with the ridesharing service Lyft to provide WRAP’s SoberRide service in the Washington-metropolitan area through 2017.

Residents can use the popular and free safe ride service SoberRide from 7 p.m. July 4 to 2 a.m. July 5. This is a way to keep local roads safe from impaired drivers during a traditionally high-risk period.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over a third of all U.S. traffic deaths involve drunk drivers on July 4th.

Montgomery County residents age 21 or older celebrating with alcohol can download Lyft to their phones, then enter the code SOBERJULY4 in the app's 'Promo' section to receive their no cost (up to $15 fare) safe transportation home. The SoberRide code is valid for the first 1,500 Lyft users who enter the code.

While SoberRide provides a free cab ride home up to a $15 fare, callers must pay for any fare over $15.

SoberRide is offered throughout Lyft’s Washington, D.C. coverage area which includes all or parts of: the District of Columbia; the Maryland counties of Montgomery and Prince George’s; and the Northern Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William.

“In 2015 and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over a third (36%) of all U.S. traffic fatalities during Independence Day involved drunk drivers,” said Kurt Gregory Erickson, WRAP’s President. “Worse, 46-percent of male drivers ages 21-to-34 killed in U.S. Independence Day crashes over the last half-decade were drunk.”

WRAP also offers its SoberRide program on Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween and the winter holidays this year starting on December 15, 2017, operating through and including New Year’s Eve.

Before SoberRide partnered with Lyft, residents used to have to call an 800 number to receive a free cab ride home.

Since 1993, WRAP has provided over 67,000 safe rides home in the Washington area.

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