One highly popular and widely promoted strategy for reducing driving while intoxicated
(DWI) is the use of safe ride services, or safe rides (SRs). SR services typically include the
provision of free or low-cost rides home to drinking drivers and their passengers. Many
services are only offered during weekend evening hours, or on holidays (Harding et al.,
1988). Some programs use taxicabs, some drive drinkers home in their own cars, and
others use tow trucks. In the only national assessment of the prevalence of SR services in
the US conducted to date, Harding et al. (1988) reported that 325 such programs were
operating. The use of SRs to prevent DWI has been described as a ``theoretically perfect
solution to the drinking/driving problem'' (Apsler, 1988; p. 162). It is a relatively low cost
means of removing impaired drivers from the road and, unlike the use of designated
drivers (DDs), it can work with solitary drinkers.