Pierce County DUI task force offers free rides home for holiday revelers

The Tacoma Pierce County DUI and Traffic Safety Task Force, in partnership with the Pierce County Tower’s Association and Aloha Cab Company, is kicking off its holiday Home Safe Bar Program to keep would-be impaired drivers off the road.

Beginning this Saturday night, Dec. 15, through New Year’s Eve, 13 tow companies throughout the county will offer free five-mile tows home for drinking drivers and their vehicles.

Additionally, Tacoma’s popular karaoke taxi, Aloha Cab Company, will provide 35 free taxi rides home on Dec. 15 and Dec. 22. This offer is for groups of three or more people in a five-mile radius in Tacoma. Holiday revelers can continue the party by singing karaoke all the way home in the musically equipped cabs.

Drivers who think they shouldn’t drive and have not pre-arranged a safe ride home should ask their bartender to call one of the participating towers through New Year’s Eve.

This year’s seasonal tow and taxi programs will operate alongside the task force’s Night of a 1,000 Stars DUI patrol, which will be hosted by the Fife Police Department. Twenty-five local officers, deputies and troopers funded by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission will unite with law enforcement across the state to arrest drunk and drugged drivers.

“It’s pretty simple,” said John Cheesman, chief of the Fircrest Police Department and chairman of the Tacoma Pierce County DUI and Traffic Safety Task Force. “Don’t drink and drive. Instead, take the free ride.”