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Police meet with cab drivers outside of Ernie’s Old Time Saloon on Tuesday (12-01-15). (Brielle Schaeffer/KCAW photo)

The Sitka Police Department is being proactive when it comes to drunk driving this holiday season. To prevent revelers from taking to the roads after a night out on the town, police will be paying for cab rides. Local cab drivers met with police to hear more about the program outside of Ernie’s Old Time Saloon today (12-1-15).

Downloadable audio.

It’s the time of year for celebrating the holidays and sometimes imbibing a little too much. After Thanksgiving last weekend three people were arrested for driving under the influence. Here’s police Lt. Lance Ewers:

“There was an arrest made every single day, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for drinking and driving,” Ewers said.

And recently, a pedestrian was hospitalized after being struck by a drunk driver on Verstovia Street.

“We want to be proactive not reactive,” he said. “When we have to throw somebody in jail for drinking and driving that means we’re not being proactive enough.”

Police will start off the preventative program this year by providing four of Sitka’s bars with $20 taxi vouchers. Five vouchers for each bar.

Ewers says bartenders will have the discretion to hand out the cab rides if they suspect their clients overindulged.

“Pretty much $20 will get you to the end of the road here in Sitka,” he said.

Hank Moore, owner of Hank’s Cabs, says an average fare on Baranof Island is about $8, so the vouchers should easily cover the rides. Whatever is left over on the voucher will go to the cabbies as tips.

Moore says he’s in favor of the police’s program.

“If it was up to me I’d give out free rides myself,” he said. “It’s good to keep people off the road. If someone goes out driving drunk they don’t have any excuse because the city is reaching their hand out for people who can’t make good choices.”

Alaska has a high rate of DUI arrests and drunk driving fatalities. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 200 people were killed in crashes involving a drunk driver from 2003 to 2012 in Alaska.

Ewers also has a novel plan for sustaining the program: By having some DUI fines go toward the cab vouchers.

“Hopefully it will go bankrupt because people won’t drive drunk,” he said.

Eventually Ewers hopes to extend the program to other drinking establishments like the American Legion, Moose Lodge, and the Baranof Island Brewing Company.

Police are also encouraging people to create plans for getting home before they go out, whether that’s designating a driver or putting aside cash for taxi fare.

“The police are the people and the people are the police,” Ewers said. “The police don’t want people drinking and driving just like there’s nobody here in town that wants people to drink and drive.”

The department plans to hand out vouchers to the Bayview Pub, Ernie’s Old Time Saloon, The Pioneer Bar and the Westmark by the end of the week so they will be available for merrymakers this weekend.