Sheriff’s Office Volunteers Offer Sober Rides for 35th Year

If you’re bringing in the New Year by attending festivities downtown, be sure to be safe and get home safely!! For the 35th year, Davidson County Sheriff’s Office employees are volunteering their time to provide free and safe rides home.

From Nashville.gov:

            NASHVILLE – Tenn. Nashville-Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall is proud to announce Davidson County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) employee volunteers will, once again, provide free, safe, and sober rides home to those ringing in the New Year in Nashville. The project aims to save lives and is supported by DCSO employee volunteers. Those in the downtown area who need a sober ride should go to the pick-up location at Second Avenue South and Broadway. Revelers at the Bicentennial Mall event should go to Fourth Avenue North and Harrison Street.

“For 35 years now, employees from the sheriff’s office have offered sober rides home to those who have had too much to drink. All you have to do is go to the pick-up location nearest to you,” Hall said. “The Sober Ride program is a Nashville tradition and we are proud to continue offering this free service year after year. Residents and visitors alike should make the right decision and choose a sober ride.”

All drivers are sheriff’s office employees and many of the volunteers have made Sober Ride their New Year’s Eve tradition. Volunteers took nearly 400 people home last year. Drivers will take people home or to a hotel, not to another party or bar, and serves Davidson County only. Operating hours are from 10 p.m. New Year’s Eve until 2 a.m. New Year’s Day. No reservations accepted.

“Nashville is a destination city for New Year’s Eve, so we will have thousands of tourists and locals celebrating. For the second year, Keith Urban will headline the Bicentennial Mall event, dubbed ‘Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville,’ so we expect a large crowd there as well as on Broadway,” Hall added. “We want everyone to have a fantastic night; however, the most important decision you can make this holiday – or any day for that matter – is to not drink and drive.  Anyone drinking this New Year’s Eve should choose a sober ride, arrive home safely, and stay out of our jail.”

Hall encourages anyone celebrating to always have an alternative plan for a sober ride. That should include a sober friend, taxi, or a ride-sharing company. Adding, it’s “extremely difficult” to effectively move people out of concentrated areas when crowd expectations are projected to be well-over 150,000.