Dec 16, 2010
AAA Carolinas & Budweiser Offering Safe Rides Home
Uptown, South End and Midtown are favorite destinations for the holidays. There are 114 restaurants and 54 nightspots in Center City Charlotte. A new safety program called Tow-to-Go will offer Mecklenburg County drivers who have had too much to drink a safe ride and vehicle tow home beginning this Friday.
AAA Carolinas and Budweiser Charlotte Distributor announced today that anyone in Mecklenburg County who may have had too much to drink should call AAA Carolinas at 1-800-AAA-HELP to receive free rides home for themselves and their vehicles.
This program is intended to help keep Mecklenburg County roads safe throughout the holidays, December 17 and January 2, 2011.
"Everyone should plan a way to get home safely," said Dave Parsons, president and CEO of AAA Carolinas. "This program provides a safety net for those who unintentionally drink too much and reduce the risk to responsible motorists, by taking potential drunk drivers off the road."
Mecklenburg County ranks among the top counties for percentage of total injuries and fatalities from drunk driving accidents in the state. From 2007 to 2009 there were 50 fatalities and more than 2,400 serious injuries due to drunk driving in the county, ranking among the top five counties in total deaths and injuries.
If every one of those drivers, who had been drinking, had not gotten behind the wheel, those tragic accidents could have been avoided.
AAA and Budweiser encourage individuals to plan for a safe celebration by being or choosing a ‘Designated Driver,’ calling a taxicab for rides to and from where they intend to drink, or calling ‘Tow to Go’ for a safe ride home, rather than allowing anyone to drive whose sobriety is in question.
"We’re pleased to partner with AAA and their service technicians to help keep our roads safe during the holiday season," said Kathy Casso, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility for Anheuser-Busch. "Thanks to the Tow to Go program, adults can make the right choice and let someone else do the driving!"
It is also extremely important for adults hosting a party serving alcohol to help make sure their guests have a safe ride home.
During this time period, Mecklenburg County residents will be attending holiday parties, NFL and NBA games, the Meineke Car Care Bowl and New Year’s Eve celebrations. AAA Carolinas and Budweiser urge everyone to enjoy these events while helping to keep county roads safe this holiday season.
Anheuser Busch and its employees build on a legacy of corporate social responsibility by focusing on three keys areas: promoting alcohol responsibility, preserving and protecting the environment and supporting local communities. In the past three decades, Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers have committed more than $830 million in national advertising campaigns and community-based programs to encourage responsible drinking and prevent underage drinking and drunk driving. Anheuser-Busch reduced total water use at its breweries by 38 percent since 2000 and the company has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years. Since 1997, Anheuser-Busch and its Foundation have invested in local communities through donations of more than $450 million to charitable organizations. The company also has provided more than 68 million cans of drinking water to people impacted by natural and other disasters since 1988. Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch, the leading American brewer, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer, and continues to operate under the Anheuser-Busch name and logo. For more information about Anheuser-Busch’s programs, visit www.anheuser-busch.com/citizenship.html.
AAA Carolinas, an affiliate of the American Automobile Association, is a not-for-profit organization that serves more than 1.8 million members with travel, automobile and insurance services while being an advocate for all motorists and travelers.
