Groups team to help holiday revelers get home safely

Free ride

To get a free ride from Designated Drivers call 456-7867.

A local law firm has teamed with STOP DUI and Designated Drivers Inc. to make sure holiday revelers get home safely.

The three groups last week kicked off the second year of the Home for the Holidays campaign to provide rides for intoxicated party-goers. The law firm Crockett and Myers donated $5,000 to each group to help keep the roads safe during the holidays.

Designated Drivers was started three years ago by Billie Smith -- a frequent club-goer who doesn't drink -- after years of being a designated driver for his friends.

Not long after he started the business, Smith met Lance Krig, who also doesn't drink and frequently acts as a designated driver.

Krig joined Smith's business and is now the vice president of the company.

"I thought it was a fabulous idea," Krig said.

He also spends a lot of time picking up passengers. Designated Drivers will send two people out to pick up someone who needs a ride, one to drive the passenger home in his car and one to follow.

Krig described the service as "a rush."

"As you're driving down the road ... you feel like a hero," he said. After dropping the client off, he said he feels "10 feet tall."

The money donated by Crockett and Myers will cover the $40 fee during the holiday season that the company normally charges to drive someone home.

Designated Drivers began giving free rides at noon Friday and will continue to provide the service without charge until noon on Jan. 1.

"That way there is no excuse not to get a ride home," Sandy Heverly, executive director of STOP DUI, said.

Even if the service weren't free, it would be cheap compared to the cost of a first-time DUI offense, which could be between $400 and $1,000, not including attorney's fees and other costs, Heverly said.

During the year Designated Drivers has a pool of 40 to 50 drivers, but during the holiday season the company recruits more to prepare for a higher demand, Krig said.

"We've been working holiday parties like they're going out of style," Krig said.

In addition to working with hosts of holiday gatherings, the Designated Drivers staff has been handing out the phone number and information about the program to bartenders and cocktail waitresses throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

Heverly hopes the extra effort will help the organizations reach their goal of a DUI fatality and injury-free holiday season.

Last year there were two DUI deaths on New Year's Day, and the program took 300 people to their homes.

Heverly anticipates helping at least that many, she said.

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