Will you risk the emotional, financial, social and professional upheaval that results from a DWI arrest and conviction in Texas to avoid abandoning your car overnight?
The Texas Department of Transportation reports that in 2009 alcohol was a factor in 2,665 vehicle collisions in Dallas County. Of these crashes, 54 resulted in the 56 fatalities, 39 of which were the person driving under the influence. Only Harris County ranks higher than Dallas County in the number of total crashes and and in the number of fatalities in which alcohol was a factor and no county reports higher numbers for DUI crashes with serious injuries, the number of serious injuries reported, the number of other injury crashes or the number of total injuries.
While these numbers for Dallas county are staggering, they only tell part of the grim story of DWI related crashes in North Texas. If we look beyond the Dallas County line, we find that three of our neighbors are also included among the ranks of the ten most dangerous counties in the state of Texas for DUI related crashes, fatalities and injuries.
| 1st Offense | 2nd Offense | 3rd Offense | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Fine | $2,000 | $4,000 | $10,000 |
| Max Incarceration | 6 months jail | 1 year jail | 2-10 years prison |
| Max License Suspension | 1 year | 2 years | 2 years |
| Penalties to keep license | $1,000 / year / 3 years | $1,500 / year / 3 years | $2,000 / year / 3 years |
And don't forget that you will want to get out of jail as soon as possible. If you drink and drive, you should keep $500 to $2,500 in cash available for a friend or family member to hand over to the bail bondsman or you will be in the crossbar motel long after you want to check out.
When you go to jail, your car goes to jail, too. You may get out easier than your ride.
| Cost of Vehicle Impound | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tow Charge | $121.00 | |
| Impound Fee | $20.00 | If recovered the day of your arrest. |
| Daily Storage Fee | $20.00 | X number of days your car remains unclaimed |
| Administrative Fee | $50.00 | For letter telling you where the car is impounded |
Be prepared to find your possessions missing from your reclaimed vehicle; theft is frequent at the City of Dallas Auto Impound. Be prepared to wait several hours for service and to be turned away from the lot without your vehicle if the lot closes before you reach the claim window. Additional storage fees will be charged regardless of how many days you wait in line to claim your vehicle. Total fees for recovering an impounded car can be as much as $1,200.
It's also possible that you can lose your car completely if your car is claimed by a lien holder or if you are unable to claim your vehicle before it is sold at auction as "unclaimed property."
Legal Costs Associated with DWI
The cost for legal representation for a DWI charge can range from $2,500 to $25,000. If your attorney hires an investigator, expect your legal costs to increase by up to $3,000.
Unquantifiable Costs of DWI
Is driving your car home when you are under the influence of alcohol worth more to you than keeping your job? A DWI arrest, regardless of conviction, can cost your job in some fields such as medical, legal, educational. Some employers require a code of conduct agreement prior to employment which is violated by past or future DWI arrests.
Are you required to drive a vehicle of any sort as part of your employment? If so, your employer will likely be forced to replace you to satisfy insurance requirements.
If you're not in a field without ethical conduct expectations and your job description doesn't require you to drive a vehicle, your boss won't be impressed when you're in custody when you should be on the clock. How many days will your boss hold your job for you?
Speaking of Insurance...
If you are able to find coverage for auto insurance after a DWI conviction, rates are likely to be as much as three times what you pay now.
Social Costs
Our singular goal is to make our streets safer by reducing the number of impaired drivers in our community. We offer our members four distinct options to get them home safely and help us achieve our goal.
Through your RIDEonomy membership you are entitled to any of the services we offer as often as you need them.
Use this service when you don't want to be separated from your vehicle but shouldn't be driving it yourself. Reserve a driver in advance or call for a designated driver on demand and we will dispatch a team of two in one car to meet you. One driver will take you home in your car while the other follows. When you and your car are safely home, both of our drivers leave in our car.
Payment for this service is included in your membership fee, but for each trip members are required to tip their driver team. The mandatory minimum tip is $42 anywhere within the City of Dallas or for the first 20 miles plus $1.50 per mile thereafter, for destinations not within the Dallas City Limits, each time the RIDEonomy service is provided. Passengers may be dropped off for $22 per stop. Payment is due when our drivers arrive to meet you at the location you specify. Your drivers work only for tips and work hard to earn your appreciation.
Use this service when you have become separated from your vehicle because you've chosen to take other transportation or someone else has given you a ride. Leave your keys where we can pick them up (a restaurant manager or bartender, perhaps?) then call us and tell us where to get them, where to find the car along with its description, plate number and tell us where to deliver it. We will dispatch a team to retrieve your keys and deliver your car to you.
Payment for this service is included in your membership fee, but for each trip members are required to tip their driver team. The mandatory minimum tip is $42 per drop off and is due when our drivers deliver your vehicle to the location you specify. If you are unable to leave keys near the car for our driver or if the keys are to be picked up from the place the car is to be delivered, payment will be due at the time the keys are received by our driver. Please consider deliveries made to the same location where we receive the keys to be two separate trips and tip your driver team accordingly.
This service can be used in combination with our Designated Driver service. Our driver team can pick up your keys and your car then meet you to drive you and your car home. Please call for more information.
Use this service when you know in advance that you will be taking alternative transportation home but need to get your car home as well. For this service, our driver team will be dispatched to meet you at the car's location where the team will accept the keys from you as well as instructions for where to park the car and where to leave the keys. After receiving your instructions, the team and your car will be on the way to your desired drop off location.
Payment for this service is included in your membership fee, but for each trip members are required to tip their driver team. The mandatory minimum tip is $42 per drop off and is due when our drivers arrive to meet you at the location you specify. Your drivers work only for tips and work hard to earn your appreciation.
Use this service for situations like a night-on-the-town, club-hopping, bachelor/bachelorette parties or any other time you plan on consuming alcohol at more than one location but want the security of having your car with you. Hire one of our drivers to drive you in your car wherever you want or need to go at an hourly rate for at least 3 hours. When the party's over our driver will deliver you and your car safely home and be picked up by another member of our staff.
Payment for this service is included in your membership fee, but for each booking members are required to tip their private driver. The mandatory minimum tip is $35/hour and the minimum 3-hour tip is due when our drivers arrive to meet you at the location you specify. Please increase your tip for each additional hour your private driver serves for you. Your drivers work only for tips and work hard to earn your appreciation.
RIDEonomy Designated Driver Services offers memberships for $500/year or $50/month, even less for families, groups and businesses, but we realize that not everyone who drinks will want to become a member so we are offering special memberships to bars, restaurants and nightclubs which allow the establishment to share their membership with 100% of their customers and all the customer pays is the tip.
For on-call service, the membership rate it $1 X maximum occupancy of the venue.
For on-site service, the membership rate is $3 to $5 X maximum occupancy of the venue.
Easy Ride Memberships require a 3-month minimum service agreement.
Upon signing of an Easy Ride Membership Agreement RIDEonomy will disclose the members' demonstration of civic responsibility by sending a participation notice to the state and local TABC offices on our company letterhead.
An additional perk for the establishment is coverage for every employee of the establishment. Off duty employees can call for a driver from any venue anywhere in Dallas County and only pay the tip for the ride.
SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP RATES FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!!
Establishments that sign up before Tuesday, August 30th will receive a 25% discount for the first month of the agreement. THE FIRST FIVE SIGNING ESTABLISHMENTS WILL RECEIVE A 25% DISCOUNT FOR EACH OF THE FIRST THREE MONTHS.
For more information, please inquire at ask@rideonomy.com
[click here to hide this message]When you become a member of RIDEonomy as an individual member, a family or group, when you register your organization or business or when you join us as one of our DWI Prevention Partners, you demonstrate to the community your commitment to the improved safety of our roadways though your commitment to never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
We currently offer six membership options, as indicated by the buttons below. Please review the options and choose the one most suited to your needs.
This membership gives a sole member unlimited rights of use to any of the services offered by RIDEonomy: Designated Driver Services, Car Retrieval Services, Car Delivery Services, Private Driver Services.
Please email us at ask@rideonomy.com to sign up for this membership.
This plan is for any two people who live at the same address, regardless of their relationship. Good for married couples, couples living together, roommates, a parent and adult child or any other combination under the sole condition that both members live at a single, common address and that address is the primary drop off point for RIDEonomy services.
This plan can be set up with individual payment authorization/information for each member.
Start your membership here. Our membership agreement can be downloaded here.
This plan designed to give mothers, fathers, sons and daughters peace of mind and get loved ones home safely. This plan covers a couple and their adult children (up to 4 total members). None of the members of this plan are required to live together.
Each member on this plan can set up account information to cover their driver tips or a single method of payment can cover membership fees as well as driver tips for all members.
Start your membership here. Our membership agreement can be downloaded here.
This plan is set up to serve groups in increments of up to 4 adults, regardless of relationship and regardless of residence, who have the common characteristic of needing a driver at the same place and time. Perfect for a group of girls'-night-out or guys'-night-out buddies, friends who meet up for happy hour frequently or sports teams and leagues.
Although each member on this plan is entitled to the unlimited use of our services as a group or individually, this plan is designed to get every member of the group home in the most efficient manner possible. We achieve this efficiency by driving as many members as can be carried at once in a single member's car, dropping passengers off on the way to the car owner's home. Once all the members are delivered home, the team will retrieve the members' cars and deliver them home according to each member's instructions. This method allows us to serve the greatest number of our members possible during peak hours, making our community safer for all of us.
Each member on this plan can set up account information to cover their driver tips or a single method of payment can cover membership fees as well as driver tips for all members.
Start your membership here. Our membership agreement can be downloaded here.
Protect your employees from the emotional and financial tragedy of DWI arrests while protecting your business from lost productivity and professional embarrassment with one of our business plans. You will rest easy knowing that your key personnel will have unlimited access to all of our services whenever they are needed and the risk of exposing your enterprise to a high-profile DWI scandal has been reduced to zero.
At your discretion, each member on this plan can set up account information to cover their driver tips or a single method of payment can cover membership fees as well as driver tips for all members. We must have an authorized form of payment on file for each cardholder as well as signed service agreement from each member granting our drivers the authority to drive each member's car for the duration of the overall service contract.
| # of Cards | $ Monthly Fee/$ Yearly Total | $ Annual Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 220 / 2,640 | 2,200 |
| 15 | 500 / 6,000 | 5,000 |
| 50 | 1,500 / 18,000 | 15,000 |
Memberships on these plans are transferable among your staff in order to keep up with the dynamic needs of your business.
Protect company's visiting guests and VIPs with our Keys To The City guest pass programs available for one, two, three, five or seven days' of unlimited access to our services. Let your VIP cover the mandatory driver gratuity per trip or let your business pick up the entire tab. Please contact us for more information.
Please email us at ask@rideonomy.com to sign up for this membership. Our membership agreement can be downloaded here.
As the owner of a licensed on-premise establishment, it's likely that your license from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is your establishment's most valuable asset. Protect that investment, the reputation of your establishment and the welfare of your customers by providing access to RIDEonomy's Designated Driver Service through this specially designed membership plan.
Please email us at ask@rideonomy.com to request a quote and find out how RIDEonomy can help you protect your business and your customers from the potential devastation of DUI.
Payment for each service is included in the membership fee, but for each trip members are required to tip their driver team. The mandatory minimum tip is $42 anywhere within the City of Dallas or for the first 20 miles plus $1.50 per mile thereafter, for destinations not within the Dallas City Limits, each time the RIDEonomy service is provided. Passengers may be dropped off for $22 per stop.. Your drivers work only for tips and work hard to earn your appreciation.
Use of our services is limited to our members. The contract period for membership is one year and fees at this level are payable both annually and monthly. Membership agreements can be cancelled by the member during the initial 30 days following registration. Pre-paid annual fees will be refunded to the member, less one month's fees in the event of cancellation by the member. Refunds will be issued by check and mailed on the 12th day of the month, one month from the date of the cancellation. Memberships can be transferred to non-members for a $10 fee.
Members needing service for another person may request a single-use service call for the non-member. Single-use services are identical to our member services with only one exception: a service call fee of $45 will be applied to all non-member trips in addition to the standard, required $42 minimum tip for the driver team. During peak call times, service requests from members will take priority over the requests of non-members.
Designated driver services are the latest trend in urban transportation. Hiring RIDEonomy Designated Driver Services to drive you and your friends home in your car when you've had a drink too many isn't just trendy, it's also astoundingly easy and incredibly smart.
RIDEonomy gets you and your car home tonight so you don't have to find the time or money to retrieve your car tomorrow, because with our professional service there's no need to abandon your car in some unattended parking lot to be vandalized, stolen or towed to an impound lot.
We help you keep your car looking great without a trip to the body shop and without raising the cost of your insurance by providing alert, attentive drivers to safely pilot your car.
Why risk the arrest, embarrassment and tens of thousands of dollars involved with DWI charges? When we drive you home, your risk of being charged with a DWI is reduced to zero!
If none of these reasons are enough to move you to call RIDEonomy, please consider that in Texas when the result of your choice to drive drunk is the loss of a human life you will go to prison and you will serve every single day of your sentence without parole. We don't want that for you.
The staff of RIDEonomy is a close-knit group who believe that life is not to be lived without a little fun and we've all been known to "tie one on" from time to time. Occasionally, we even get a little out of control. We're not at all proud to admit that there have been times we've gotten behind the wheel when we should have given up the keys, but that's the truth. Fortunately, none of us have ever taken a life or lost our income as the result of impaired driving.
Somewhere along the way we started looking out for one another and we started driving each other home when we could or asking for help when we couldn't. That is something that we are proud of and have never stopped doing. It has become to us something like one of the laws of the universe, "RIDEonomy," to never drive under the influence and to never judge someone who asks for help getting home.
Two things that are always true about a law of the universe: it is always powerful and it can't be contained. RIDEonomy is no different. Keeping people who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol out of the drivers seat and getting them safely home in their own car is an idea too powerful to keep to ourselves, so we have brought RIDEonomy to you.