Atlanta operators, nonprofit group give drunk drivers a 'safe ride' home: two dozen bars, eateries participate

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 24, 2003 by Jack Hayes

ATLANTA -- Teamed up with a fledgling nonprofit group that offers alcohol-impaired guests free rides home three nights a week, more than two dozen local bar and restaurant operators here have signed on as sponsors of SafeRide America.

The SafeRide organization, which dispatches male-female volunteer teams to drive guests and their vehicles safely home on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, is finding support from a growing number of Atlanta hospitality companies, including some of the city's most respected multiunit operators.

The program is catching on as restaurants and bars face a growing potential for costly lawsuits as more liquor liability challenges are aimed at establishments that serve alcohol. The SafeRide initiative also comes as more restaurants seek to counteract insurers' inclinations to raise liability premiums for operations with bars.

"All of us here were thinking how great it would be to have some kind of program like this available for guests, but it wasn't until one of our partners heard about SafeRide that we got moving on the idea and gave it a try," said Steve Buero, partner and co-founder of the four-unit restaurant group 101 Concepts. "Now we feel better sleeping at night."

The group 101 Concepts operates the American- and Italian-theme neighborhood dining sites Food 101, Mangia 101 and Meehan's Ale House, which has two tavern-restaurant locations. All are in northern Atlanta suburbs. Another restaurant, called Soho, which Buero and his partners own separately, also is participating in SafeRide.

According to Buero, the ride-home service is communicated to guests with signs posted in each establishment's rest rooms. Customers who feel uncertain about their ability to drive safely are urged to speak with the managers.

"Probably everybody once in their life has driven over the limit, because it's easy to get [over the limit] when you're in a celebratory mood," Buero observed. "But people today are wanting to make responsible choices, and this is a way to encourage them."

Among the Atlanta-area bars and restaurants currently sponsoring the SafeRide program are Bistro Philippe, Atkins Park, Mike & Angelo's. Buckhead Saloon and The Derby.

"The SafeRide group was canvasing bar owners and restaurateurs about their service, so we checked them out because we were talking about a cab service or something similar," Buero said.

As the program currently is structured, operators pay between $25 and $300 per month to become sponsors, according to Mike Rhyne, SafeRide America founder and executive director.

SafeRide also gets revenue from grants and fees that businesses pay in lieu of fees to advertise on signs placed in their rest rooms, such as those of 101 Concepts' restaurants.

Bettina Tahsin, spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's Barcode Alcohol Awareness Program, praised the SafeRide America initiative as a potential boon for operators and guests.

"It sounds like an amazing program that others may benefit from," Tahsin said. "We haven't heard of efforts like this in other states, but there may be some."

Rhyne said he got the idea for SafeRide from a Richmond, Va-.based group called the National Designated Drivers Association, which began operation about seven years ago.

"I made contact with that organization and launched an Atlanta chapter, but we separated when I became interested in the nonprofit potential for this service," Rhyne explained. "So we put together a board of directors and organized as the National Council for the Prevention of Impaired Driving.

Buero said an average of two guests per restaurant per week, which would translate to approximately 100 alcohol-impaired customers in a year's time, are requesting the service. SafeRide's Rhyne said his group now is escorting home about 200 impaired drivers a month.

"We're using about 1,500 volunteers a year," Rhyne said, explaining that many of SafeRide's volunteers are first-time DUI offenders mandated by courts to do part of their community service with his group. "One judge in Cobb County [in northwestern suburban Atlanta] requires all first-time DUI offenders to do 25 hours with SafeRide," he said. "We always need volunteers."

The momentum that SafeRide is experiencing as a result of referrals, sponsorships and local media exposure has moved Rhyne to restructure the program for expansion. He said a for-profit subsidiary has been organized to take over the function of driving guests' vehicles.

"A SafeRide volunteer still will drive the alcohol-impaired person home free, but our for-profit group will charge fees for the 'chasing' service, which involves taking that person's car home as well," Rhyne said. He added that chasing fees would be based on mileage and would be competitive with taxi charges.