Evesham Saving Lives program is officially extended
Date Posted:
Thu, Oct 15 2015,
Courier Post
EVESHAM Mayor Randy Brown couldn’t be more thrilled that the Evesham Saving Lives program, an anti-DUI initiative, will be extended through the New Year and likely beyond.
The township will hold a press conference Thursday morning to officially announce the plan to extend the program, which was done as a one-month pilot program in September.
The program was established to provide township residents who patronize local bars and restaurants with safe, alternative options to get home. Through a shuttle service and rides with Sober Sam, the program took more than 350 people home safely last month.
Brown announced that the township is joining partnerships with national transportation company Uber and nationally known designated driver service BEmyDD.
“We took 350 people home,” Brown said. “Our own residents … amazing.”
Brown said going forward everything will be all app-based, which will allow them to get daily and hourly logs.
“It’s going to be a 60-day thing,” he said. “We’re going to take it from Friday to Jan. 2 and we’re going to get a really good 60-day metric of who’s taking what, where, when, how, why. Then, once we do the program full bore come 2016, all of the test cases will have been done by then.”
Evesham Township Council, Evesham Township police, representatives of Evesham Celebrations Foundation, Uber, BEmyDD and the Marlton Business Association will hold a joint press conference at the municipal complex.
Initially, the program was a joint initiative with the township and police, along with the Evesham Celebrations Foundation, Sober Sam, the Marlton Business Association and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
There’s an Evesham Township Police Department smartphone app that allows users to look up pickup times at local establishments so they can coordinate a ride home. The app, available on Google Play and the iTunes App Store, also connects residents with other services and information.
Evesham Township Police Chief Christopher Chew said last week that even taking just one person home safely equated success to him.
“Even if it was just one person we transported home, to me that was the parameter for success because we saved one life and an innocent person’s life,” he said. “But 300 is truly an amazing amount. … DWI arrests are significantly down, which is great. We were averaging almost 22 a month. Last month, we had eight.”
The township will hold a press conference Thursday morning to officially announce the plan to extend the program, which was done as a one-month pilot program in September.
The program was established to provide township residents who patronize local bars and restaurants with safe, alternative options to get home. Through a shuttle service and rides with Sober Sam, the program took more than 350 people home safely last month.
Brown announced that the township is joining partnerships with national transportation company Uber and nationally known designated driver service BEmyDD.
“We took 350 people home,” Brown said. “Our own residents … amazing.”
Brown said going forward everything will be all app-based, which will allow them to get daily and hourly logs.
“It’s going to be a 60-day thing,” he said. “We’re going to take it from Friday to Jan. 2 and we’re going to get a really good 60-day metric of who’s taking what, where, when, how, why. Then, once we do the program full bore come 2016, all of the test cases will have been done by then.”
Evesham Township Council, Evesham Township police, representatives of Evesham Celebrations Foundation, Uber, BEmyDD and the Marlton Business Association will hold a joint press conference at the municipal complex.
Initially, the program was a joint initiative with the township and police, along with the Evesham Celebrations Foundation, Sober Sam, the Marlton Business Association and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
There’s an Evesham Township Police Department smartphone app that allows users to look up pickup times at local establishments so they can coordinate a ride home. The app, available on Google Play and the iTunes App Store, also connects residents with other services and information.
Evesham Township Police Chief Christopher Chew said last week that even taking just one person home safely equated success to him.
“Even if it was just one person we transported home, to me that was the parameter for success because we saved one life and an innocent person’s life,” he said. “But 300 is truly an amazing amount. … DWI arrests are significantly down, which is great. We were averaging almost 22 a month. Last month, we had eight.”