Update, Monday, 4:41 p.m.:
Safe Rides, a program which which allows teenagers in town to get a ride home if they've been drinking and would be unsafe behind the wheel, was set to close last week, but after word got out, the program is back, volunteer Gary Weicker says:
"We have had an outpouring of volunteers stepping forward to keep it going. This is a great organization and provides a safe way for our high school kids to get home on weekend nights."
Original article, March 14: "Darien Safe Rides to End Without Parent Support—Can You Help?"
Darien Safe Rides to Shut Down on April 30 after 30 Years Due to Lack of Parent Support
Sadly, Darien Safe Rides will shut down at the end of April due to the lack of parent support. The Darien Safe Rides program, the first in the nation, was founded in 1982 after several teenage fatalities involving alcohol-related accidents.
The program has been copied throughout the the state of Connecticut and the nation. It has helped save teenage lives and has provided a leadership experience for those students participating in the program.
Can the program be saved? Only if a team of three or more parents steps up to be the Parent Advisors for next year.
Traditionally, the Parent Advisors have, or expect to have, a child involved in the program. The Parent Advisors work with the ten or so Student Officers that run the program as well as lead student teams comprised of juniors and seniors.
The Parent Advisors lead a monthly meeting with Student Officers that covers scheduling, compliance with Safe Rides rules, and other issues that come up. Another separate team of parents coordinates the scheduling of parents on duty at the Depot when Safe Rides operates.
At the beginning of the school year, the Parent Advisors conduct an informational meeting for parents and students, and coordinate the receipt of documentation such as licenses, insurance and parent approvals.
If interested in learning more, please email saferidesdarien@gmail.com
Background information
Darien Safe Rides, a youth-directed program that is sponsored by the Town of Darien’s Youth Commission. Darien Safe Rides is a program designed to provide a free and confidential ride home to any student who is not in a condition to drive safely or to any student who wants to avoid being a passenger in such a situation.
Darien Safe Rides is also a program which holds the potential for changing attitudes about driving while drinking; the student's concern for each other's safety leads to greater appreciation of both the risks and responsibilities associated with driving while impaired. Darien Safe Rides operates out of the Depot Teen Center.
Darien Safe Rides was founded in 1982 by several Darien High School students after they witnessed a number of alcohol-related car accidents amongst their friends. Its stated purpose is to provide safe, reliable and confidential transportation for High School students from 10 p.m.. to 1:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights during the school year.
It is organized and operated primarily by the students, with adult supervision, and currently has approximately 100 student volunteers fielding approximately 5-15 calls per night. It is a testament to their success that there have been no alcohol-related deaths from car accidents among Darien High School students since the program’s inception.
Students and at least one adult volunteer gather at the Depot as the team responsible for giving Darien's high school students a safe ride home. One student is the dispatcher, handling all incoming telephone calls as well as maintaining contact with the Darien Safe Rides cars on call.
Students are sent out in pairs. Drivers use his/her family car and are accompanied by a rider. The responsibility of the rider is assisting the driver in finding the location address, assessing the situation of the pick up, and handling the phone contact with the dispatcher.
Adult volunteers are on duty for the students to consult if they need help. The parents of participating students are required to spend one evening a semester (twice a year) at the Depot on a Friday or Saturday night as a Parent Volunteer to provide guidance in the event of an emergency or logistical problem.
Safe Rides depends on the commitment of its members and the attitude toward it by other students. Although parents are involved, the program's basic premise is that responsible young people can have a positive and meaningful impact on the problem of alcohol and other drug abuse, particularly as it relates to the inevitable risks of driving while under the influence.
Editor's note: This article originally was published Thursday. The timestamp has been changed for layout purposes on the Home page of Darien Patch.
So MP and Yikes will push the point that we shouldn't enable kids drinking by providing this service. The service then gets shut down --kids drink anyway, and tragedy occurs. yes-its a shocker MP that kids drink in darien. Go on a crusade of stopping this behavior. In the mean time Safe Rides should continue . Reality is reality. It's not new to 2013. It wasn't new in Mark Twain's day and it wont be gone 100 years from now.
How did you twist me saying Safe Rides is "incredible and these volunteers deserve medals", into me wanting to shut it down? Go away troublemaker.
1. Kids are drinking alcohol 2. Kids are drinking so much alcohol they can't get home safely 3. Kids are stupid enough today (I would like to think it is a bit different than 1982 thanks to groups like SADD and education, but apparently not in wonderful Darien) that they can't have ONE friend be a designated driver 4. The kids don't have anyone to call except a volunteer service to pick them up because they drank too much? Umm, mom or dad? Or are mom and dad too drunk to get them? 5. FIFTEEN calls in a night? From kids. Wake up.
If there had really been any improvement in teen drinking over the last 30 years, there wouldnt be a need for Safe Rides. But obviously there hasnt been. And not all the calls are from kids who have been drinking...there are always kids who use it as a taxi service.
I am encouraged that time has brought change in attitude over drinking and driving. I have learned from my 17yr old daughter that it is considered a friendship-losing offense. The term 'designated driver' is now called a 'DD' and there is one at every party within their friend group. If every group of teens had this level of responsibility then, yes, maybe we wouldn't need Safe Rides anymore. But we all know this is not the case. Teens drink. Teens drive. Teens drink and drive (and so do adults for that matter). I am hopeful that a few parents will step up and taken on this awesome and important leadership role. The town that founded the program should never have to lose it, especially with the statistics that support its life saving success.
Seems that the most obnoxious and rude posts are those done in the wee hours of the morning. Wonder if it's due to over self-medication.
I can't remember the details, but I think Greenwich required an AOP because they got a waiver for the new teen driving laws with the rules about passengers and curfews??? But also, they are fielding some phonecalls for rides that require mature decision making. Like what if maybe they need an ambulance and not a ride. But you're right, maybe the adult could be on-call at home. I'm definitely not arguing with you.
I read your post. Just need clarity. You say I twist, and commend MP for the choice of words. And also encourage a lack of twisting. So, if i make assumptions and then accusations, David, that is wrong? To me, your address to me is an extension of the other issue that we disagreed on with regards to the Stevenson/ office of the First Selectman and how you made an assumption of the intent of her office. You surmised that if Darien Times obtained the agenda first, then a reasonable explanation could be to gain browine points. Just so I know, is that twisting events in order to achieve your desired result of slamming the FS? In this thread, you applaud the word twist. Ok. Again--confusing. I'll start with the concept of if there are 15 fire alarms in a day, does that mean there are 15 fires? MP, who says that it is I who twists concludes that 15 calls means 10-30 drunk kids a weekend. Is that twisting or fact? Does MP understand that the prior to reaching the age of 21 is .02%? .02% is having 1 beer in an hour and a half. Does that qualify as bein a drunk kid? 20 years old with 1 beer? Or would you define that as twisting? MP says that parents in town look the other way or even host drinking parties. Is that twisting the facts? To which I respond MP's derisive comments about parents and kids is not helpful. I dont see why MP gets to deride parents . Could you explain. And why twisting is allowed with kids. Thanks!
Thanks for the response. But my words were:" So MP and Yikes will push the point that we shouldn't enable kids drinking by providing this service. The service then gets shut down --kids drink anyway, and tragedy occurs." My perception was not that MP 'wanted to shut it down" (never said that) I said that when you portray the service as one that enables drinking--or that parents turn the other cheek and allow their kids to drink knowing that safe rides will be there------it can have an effect to the point of shutting it down. Hope you can see that. The discussion becomes one focused on how much kids drink and how there are entities, such as parents and safe rides that need to be examined. I dont consiider that twisting.
The main point is safe rides. Safe rides is great bc it gives kids a way home regardless of whether or not they are drunk...period. It's safe. I will add though that it's probably the kids of the parents who are so outraged and in denial about underaged drinking who are the most drunk and puking in the safe ride car. Way to go parents...just keep your heads deeply buried in the sand. THAT is what is unsafe.
This is a service for the whole community!
I work in public health now. It is hard to step forward and put your time, energy, money towards creating a non-event. That is essentially what prevention is ... paying for something to NOT happen. A paradox develops. The more something does not happen over time, the less people tend to value the non-occurrence. I agree with many of those commenting here that prevention of teenage excess drinking needs to be a priority. Certainly. Yet the fact that Safe Rides receives 5 to 15 calls per weekend night speaks to the ongoing need for this service. For the parents of teenagers in Darien ... you will never remember not receiving a call in the middle of the night that your teenager has been in a terrible accident. However, your life will never be the same again if you do receive such a call. It is worth striving to do what is needed to keep Safe Rides open.
Along the same lines, we have also had many teenage suicides and drug overdoes. Does anyone know Darien's stat on these other types of teenage deaths? I ask because maybe Darien is doing something differently from Ridgefield and if we could identify what that is, we all could save many more lives. Thanks.
Driving drunk can be taken out of the equation. What can be wrong with that?