Free rides being offered to Lake Area residents in an effort to keep drunk drivers off the road

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - You may have the best intentions while ringing in the new year, but if you or your designated driver can’t get home safely, you can still get a free ride.

Yellow Cab of Lake Charles has teamed up with Judge Ron Richard for the sixth year in a row to keep drunk drivers off the road.

This year, they’ve upped the ante and are giving out 1,000 free rides.

“Mr. Page contacted me and said look somebody he knew had got DWI - well actually had gotten hurt by somebody with a DWI - and so he called me and was talking to me about it,” Richard said. “And this was his brainchild. He wanted to know if we would get on board.”

Working together to help keep the streets safe heading into 2022.

“We’re just trying to plant a seed in the thoughts of people before New Year’s Eve to be safe and to do things right and proper so they don’t hurt themselves, their family or our families,” Judge Jamie Bice said.

According to the Center for Analytics and Research Transportation Safety, in Calcasieu Parish last year, there were 136 alcohol-related crashes resulting in 209 injuries.

Ward 3 Marshall Nathan Keller is hoping to withhold from passing out DWIs this weekend.

“We want everyone to have a good time. It’s New Year’s, we’ve been cooped up forever,” Keller said. “But we want you to go home safe as well, and this is the perfect way. If you don’t have a designated driver, now you’ve got a free ride home, and you don’t have a ride with the marshall,.”

Just another reminder to drive sober or catch a ride with someone who is.

“Yellow cab of Lake Charles (337)-433-8282 - you be drinkin’, we be driving.”

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