Friends don't let friends drive drunk.
You know the scene. You're out at a bar, a friend's place, wherever. Everyone's buzzed. But the manly thing to do is to get up, act straight, and pick out someone that looks worse than you and say, "Pare, ok ka lang?" So long as we hear the bare minimum: "Ok pa, bro. I'll just be careful" We're good with that. It's a verbal disclaimer.
And that, in a nutshell, has been the opening act for the millions and millions of shattered lives around the world. And it has to stop. I could spend the next few thousand words of this article narrating to you the horrors of drunk driving, or I can sum up a simple solution for you in 5 simple numbers: 16911
That is the number of the country's first and only driver on call service. Launched in July of 2012, Driver on Call is a community service powered by LIFELINE Ambulance, the country's biggest emergency transport service, that was set up to combat the horrific effects that drunk driving has had on our community.
The idea is simple. If you or someone you know has had too much to drink, or is just in no condition to drive and will only consider doing so simply because they do not know what to do with their car, Lifeline can have a professional driver dispatched to drive them home in THEIR own car, while a support vehicle tails them home to make sure everyone gets home safely.
This is a non profit service that was designed to prevent accidents rather than respond to them. It is not in any way there to encourage people to drink irresponsibly; it just deals with the reality that otherwise responsible and good people sometimes choose to risk driving home after too much to drink simply because they didn't want to leave their cars behind. We're just removing that excuse for people.
Like any emergency service, it should never be abused. Lifeline have a no questions asked policy for Driver on Call, but we leave it to your discretion to not take advantage of it. These are highly trained emergency personnel that are on standby for any medical emergency and should be treated as such. End of the day, as overqualified as they may be for the task, believe me, they would much rather drive you home in your car than have to cut you out of it later; so you make the choice. Because if you drink and drive, you will have to call them sooner or later. We're offering you sooner, rather than later.
Don't be a statistic. Make the right call. Dial 16911 to get home safely. Here's a short video to see how it works. Pls share this with your loved ones. Awareness alone is half the fight. If it saves just one life, then it will definitely all be worth it.
*As a community service supported by partners like Bridgestone, Rota wheels and Garmin, the service is subsidised to a flat rate of 500 pesos anywhere in Metro Manila.
