VALDOSTA — Moody Air Force Base officials encourage base personnel to take advantage of a program called Sober Ride. The program is designed to prevent drunk driving incidents and misfortune among base personnel by serving as a backup when traditional designated driver options are not available, according to www.moody.af.mil.

Formed in 1997 by the Base Advisory Council, Sober Ride is manned entirely by Moody volunteers and operates from 10 p.m.-4:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The program provides anonymous free rides to any Department of Defense cardholder unable to drive because they are impaired by alcohol, said Tech Sgt. Matt Ryan, Sober Ride program manager.

Sober Ride is available by calling the hotline at 25-SOBER. Callers must be within a 20-mile radius of the base, Ryan said. During each shift, one location is responsible for receiving calls and logging the necessary information, like time, date, number of people, location, drop-off location, etc. The dispatcher then calls a driver and provides the information logged from the call.

Between eight and 10 volunteer drivers are available on average each night, Ryan said. When a driver arrives at the location, the individual must be able to surrender a Department of Defense identification card. The driver then provides a ride from the nightclub, party or other function to the individual's home.

“The driver’s main objective is to get the individual home safely, whether it's at the dorms or a private residence," Ryan said. "But it's against our policy to take them to any other place.”

Without the airmen who volunteer, the program wouldn't be able to run, Ryan said.

“It's great to see them sacrificing their own nights to help their wingmen and prevent drunk driving," he said.

Similar programs are available in Valdosta for civilian partygoers. One such program is 244-Taxi, started on Nov. 1, 2008, by Danny Goslin and Anthony McCoppin after they went out one night and couldn’t get a ride home, Goslin said.

“During the partying hours, you can find a taxi within 15 minutes of any bar in Valdosta,” Goslin said. “We run two drivers Sunday through Wednesday night, four drivers on Thursday night and five on Friday and Saturday night, with plenty of backup.”

The 244-Taxi service is used by all local law enforcement agencies, Goslin said.

Valdosta State University doesn’t have a Sober Ride-type program to assist students in getting home safely after a night of partying, in part because the vast majority of VSU resident students are freshmen and sophomores and thus underage, said VSU Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Kurt Keppler.

VSU does offer an escort shuttle service from the Sustella Parking Deck, where most residents park, back to their residence hall entrance for students who arrive back at campus late at night or after dark, Keppler said.

VSU's Greek fraternity and sorority chapters take responsibility for their own by assigning designated members who can be called on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings to drive other members who might need a sober ride home, said Jennifer Jones, assistant director for student life, Greek life. For formal events like a social, each organization may purchase a third party transportation vendor to escort members to and from events, she added.

Jones said a group called Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol (GAMMA) are also working on different programs and plans to help with this issue around the VSU campus.