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AAA offering free rides home this New Year’s Eve

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News Year’s Eve is said to be one of the most dangerous holidays of the year on the road and AAA is offering a free service to help people make it into 2019 safe and sound.

For the last 23 years, AAA offers free rides through its Holiday Safe Ride Program.

Members or non-members can call their local AAA hotline if they need a sober ride home.

New Year’s Eve-goers in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties can hitch a ride starting at 6 p.m. Monday until 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Local AAA employees like Fredrick Dassler want to make sure people celebrate responsibly.

“We don’t want people to die, we don’t want people to get injured, we don’t want people to get hurt. We want safety in the community and being able to offer this as an alternative to drinking and driving or driving intoxicated, it’s just better across the board,” said Dassler, who is with AAA’s San Luis Obispo office.

AAA’s Holiday Safe Ride Program can be reached by calling 1-800-400-4222.

Picking a designated driver ahead of time or calling a taxi, Uber or Lyft are also great alternatives for those ringing in the New Year with their favorite alcoholic drink.

The California Highway Patrol is observing New Year’s with a Maximum Enforcement Period (MEP) where all available personnel will be on duty looking for drivers who are impaired, distracted, speeding, or not wearing a seatbelt.

During this time last year, CHP says 40 people died on California roads and more than 900 DUI arrests were made.

More than two-thirds of those killed were reportedly not wearing seatbelts.