Midnight calls, nightly prowls and picking up strangers—these aspects may sound like those of a treacherous career, but in fact, are part of a community service program called Safe Ride.

Safe Ride offers high school students free and confidential rides in order to curb drunk driving and provide a safe alternative. The program operates throughout the school year, and is manned by high school volunteers on Friday and Saturday nights, from 10:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m., with the last call taken at 1:30 a.m.

The Palo Alto Area Chapter started the Safe Ride program in 1984 after a Palo Alto High School (Paly) student, Scott Safreed, died in a tragic car collision with a 16-year -old drunk driver. Gunn and Paly initiated the program, and Castilleja, Los Altos, Menlo, Mountain View, Sacred Heart Prep, Menlo-Atherton and Saint Francis have since joined it. Each school is required to work once or twice every month and each volunteer must commit to four to five four-hour shifts per year. Students of participant high schools in need of a ride may call the toll-free telephone line (1-877-753-RIDE) to get picked up by a pair of volunteers in a Red Cross vehicle.

The Palo Alto Area Chapter has two Red Cross vehicles, which limits the area boundaries to Redwood City, Portola Valley, Atherton, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Woodside, Mountain View, Los Altos Hills and Los Altos. Safe Ride does not allow callers to make reservations for rides. In order to get a ride, the caller must call at the precise time he or she needs a ride. Also, contrary to popular belief, teenagers do not need to be under the influence to request for a ride, senior Safe Ride coordinator Maya Bruhis said. “We’re just there for anyone, they don’t necessarily need to be intoxicated,” Bruhis said. Teenagers use Safe Ride if they feel that they are in a dangerous situation or if they simply need a ride, according to junior Michael Lei. “I used it when I wasn’t drunk because I needed a ride,” he said. “Safe Ride is the way to go.”

According to the American Red Cross Palo Alto Area Chapter Web site, Safe Ride received 698 calls and gave 537 rides from September 2006 to June 2007. In total, that amounts to 2,175 volunteer hours served.

Amidst waiting for the phone to ring, the volunteers hang out and have fun. “It varies, some nights we only get a few, like maybe five, but other nights we get around 20 or more,” Bruhis said.

In order to sign up for the program, one must either contact the Safe Ride Coordinator at his/her school or get the paperwork from the Palo Alto Area Chapter web site. The program offers several benefits: community service hours, prevention of drunk driving and the ability to meet other Red Cross volunteers. “Meeting lots of different people is always fun, and most of them are really chatty,” said senior co-coordinator Danielle Chou. According to the Palo Area Chapter Web site, 90 percent of its Safe Ride volunteers choose to participate in the program in order to help out fellow students.

The program offers three jobs: volunteer driver, telephone operator and volunteer passenger. In order to qualify for the volunteer driver job, one must have parent consent and be cleared by the DMV. One must also have completed a full year of driving with their license before being able to drive past 11:00 p.m. Prior to venturing out on the road, the volunteers receive training and adult guidance on leadership and volunteer conduct. Both a boy and a girl must be present in the vehicle when volunteers pick up teenagers to maximize safety.

One downside is that although the program is open throughout the school year, it closes down during the summer and several school holidays. According to Chou, one reason for this is the low availability of adult supervisors. This in turn constitutes a potential hazard because teenagers who need rides during holiday breaks don’t have anyone to turn to. “Unfortunately [it’s] not open during the summer and I think it should be,” Chou said. “I think it’s definitely something that can happen in the future.”

Another disadvantage is that teenagers may only receive rides if their school participates in the program. “If Gunn didn’t have anyone working for Safe Ride, we wouldn’t be able to get rides,” Bruhis said.