True confession I'm really not proud of -- when I was a teenager, I drove home under the influence, more than once. The gods smiled upon me and luckily I never got into an accident. But driving my white and rusty '76 Buick Century down a dark country road to our house in Franklin, TN, I'm just amazed I didn't go off the road, or even worse, hit a deer. I did run over a possum once -- yuck. Maybe that's why I LOVE the idea of the Get Home Free Card -- it's basically a card for pre-paid cab rides. Obviously, the card must go hand-in-hand with a conversation about being responsible and never driving drunk or on drugs. It's not permission to party, it's the "if you are ever in a situation where either you or a friend who is driving should not be driving, use this card." Warning: weird metaphor ahead. It's kind of like condoms. You may not condone the behavior, but you want them to be safe. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune article:

David Happe (the entrepreneur behind the Get Home Free Card) decided to partner with Airport Taxi and Town Taxi, based in New Hope, because of the company's GPS-dispatch technology and its large fleet.

Any incoming call from a Get Home Free cardholder will be given top priority, said Thomas Anderson, director of sales and marketing for the taxi company. The operator will determine where the caller is, and the nearest cab driver will respond. The operator will tell the caller exactly what type of taxi is coming and when it will arrive, he said.

Right now the card is just being used in the Twin Cities metro area, but I think it's an idea that is worth spreading.

Posted by anastasia