Safe Ride Home Sudbury will begin dispatching volunteers to drive people home in their own vehicles on Nov. 28, and will continue every Friday and Saturday until the end of the year.
Plus, an extra night of service on New Year’s Eve.
“The more volunteers we have the more rides we can give, so we’re always looking for more volunteers,” founder Lesli Green told Sudbury.com following their annual program launch at NORCAT on Friday.
Organizers host a formal launch a few weeks prior to its start each year to not only celebrate volunteers and sponsors, but also to help drum up volunteers.
“It’s a unique opportunity, and you’ll be making a difference in the community,” Green said. “It’s a lot of fun, there’s lots of camaraderie and our volunteers are very well taken care of.”
Their base of operations is NORCAT, which volunteers from Cambrian College's Police Foundations program set up each day, though volunteers spread throughout Greater Sudbury to drive people home.
The service is available from 8 p.m. to either 1 a.m. or 2 a.m., depending on the location, with more details regarding service area (much of Greater Sudbury) available by clicking here.
The effort typically finds approximately 350 people volunteer their time, driving a total of 39,000 kilometres to bring 8,000 Greater Sudburians home in their own vehicles.
Safe Ride Home is offered in four steps:
- You feel unfit to drive home.
- You phone 705-675-2255.
- A team of two volunteers are dispatched to your location. One volunteer drives you and your passengers to your destination in your own vehicle while the other volunteer follows behind.
- Both you and your vehicle are safely home.
The program is “life-saving” Greater Sudbury Police Service Chief Sara Cunningham said during Friday’s launch, pledging an increased police presence to accompany volunteers’ efforts.
“Expect us anywhere, anytime,” she said, noting that alongside regular year-round efforts, police would ramp up vehicle spot-checks during the holiday season with their annual Festive RIDE campaign.
Last year’s Festive RIDE campaign saw police conduct 13 ride checks, screen 3,000 vehicles and lay eight impaired driving charges.
In total, last year saw police investigate 308 impaired driving incidents and lay more than 500 charges. So far this year, they’ve recorded 293 incidents and laid 496 charges.
The underlying message behind this and every other campaign in the Safe Ride Home effort’s 27 years, Green said, is, “Always plan ahead, never drive impaired.”
For more information on Safe Ride Home Sudbury and how to volunteer, click here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.