There is perhaps no worse time to drive than the night of New Year’s Eve. Commonsense tells us that unfortunately there are more drunk drivers out on the streets than usual as revelers celebrating the New Year make their ways home. Rather than starting the year off on a good note, many people risk their lives and the lives of others by drinking and driving.

City governments and police departments are all too aware of the prevalence of drunk driving around the holidays. This year the village of Orland Park teamed up with the Michael P. Gordon Memorial Foundation and chartered Stretch Limousine, Inc. to offer residents a better way to get home after celebrating the New Year.

Between the hours of 11PM on Monday, December 31st, and 4AM on Tuesday, January 1st, residents of Orland Park, Mokena, New Lenox, Palos Heights, and Tinley Park can call Stretch Limousine, Inc. at 1-855-230-1637 to arrange a free limo ride home. The pick-up and drop-off locations must be in these towns. Residents must be traveling home, not to another party or to a public establishment.

The village of Orland Park and the Michael P. Gordon Memorial Foundation will pick up the tab for the limo ride home. Residents will not be charged. Neither will their names and/or addresses be recorded.

The Safe Ride Home program offers residents of those five towns a smarter way to get home than getting behind the wheel after drinking. Of course, it is still a good idea to designate a driver for the evening or to not drive at all, perhaps by spending the night at the house where the party is taking place. But plans go amiss and for those without recourse, the village of Orland Park and the Michael P. Gordon Memorial Foundation have offered a free limo ride home to take potential drunk drivers off the road.

Don’t drink and drive, call for a free limo ride.