Texas Department of Transportation brought their Sober Sleigh Ride Tour to Brownwood Tuesday, reminding the public to find a sober ride home after enjoying holiday festivities.
During the tour, VIPs from the local area rode with TxDOT officials and representatives from an Austin based marketing firm Enviromedia (who are helping with the tour) in a 38-foot limousine wrapped in red with white reindeer print, topped with a big green bow. If that wasn’t showing enough Christmas spirit, the car also had interior Christmas decorations including a fireplace with stockings hung and exterior speakers which played Christmas music.At local businesses, restaurants and other places where the public might be gathered, the limo would stop and riders would educate people about the importance of having a designated driver, then accept pledge cards to “find a sober ride,” which entered the pledge maker into a drawings to win a grand prize — a trip to New York City to celebrate New Year’s Eve. There was also an opportunity to win a limo ride on New Year’s Eve in any Texas community. Pledges posted on Twitter or SoberRides.org will also be entered.
Brownwood News rode along with Brownwood City Councilman DeHay, Brownwood Chief of Police Mike Corley, Steve Nash, TxDOT’s Jeanni Luckey and the staff from Enviromedia Tuesday morning through downtown, around Coggin Park, stopping at Brookshire’s grocery store. Pledges were made by customers as well as some of the employees.
Chief Corley stated he was impressed with the way TxDOT and Enviromedia thought outside the box and found a fun way to make the message memorable to the public to find a sober ride during the holidays.
“It’s a great new way to promote designated driving. I’m glad people can think outside of the box. I think logically, but how someone came up with this idea is great,” said Corley. “Any people seeing this will be reminded to get a designated driver or to give the gift of a sober ride, it’s a good deal.”
TxDOT selected 15 cities across the state for the tour which will run from December 2nd through New Year’s Day.
During last year’s holiday season, 776 DWI-alcohol traffic crashes occurred in Texas, causing 78 fatalities. The number of fatalities increased by 21.8 percent from the previous year.
Pictured above are VIPs from the City of Brownwood with TxDOT officials. Below are more photos from the Sober Sleigh ride Tuesday morning.
Don Hatcher, BPD Chief Corley and City Manager Bobby Rountree made pledges and took a quiz about the consequences of driving while intoxicated.
Brookshires employees and a Salvation Army volunteer bell ringer made pledges during the stop at Brookshires.
Passengers of the morning sober sleigh ride.
