New App Connects Users With Sober Drivers

BlutarskyTFM12 years ago

Drunk driving is obviously a serious problem. Despite numerous campaigns by both public and private agencies, many lives are still lost each year. As a result of the alarming number of these tragic deaths in their state, some folks at the Texas Department of Transportation, as well as three colleges in the Lone Star state, have come up with a new idea to keep drunk drivers off the road.

They’ve created an app called the Person Appointed to Stay Sober, or P.A.S.S. This program, which was implemented at the University of North Texas, Midwestern State University, and the University of Texas at Brownsville this week, uses social media in order to prevent people who’ve had too much to drink from getting behind the wheel.

The app integrates with Facebook events and allows students to search for friends who agree to be sober drivers for an event. They can also offer to be sober drivers for other people and pledge payment amounts if they choose.

Essentially, if you throw a party and make a Facebook event page for it, the app can use the guest list to match people up with a sober driver. Of course, when your pledges are driving for you, you don’t really need something like this.

Still, you never know when having a backup ride might come in handy. Sometimes, the pledges may be “unavailable” for extended periods of time due to “team building” activities in the basement, at which time, it doesn’t hurt to have an alternate way to get home.

I do have to wonder, though, aside from pledges, who the hell is sober enough to drive?

[via Government Technology]

Image via Government Technology