It happens more than you think.
Someone enjoys themselves a little too much at a local bar and decides to drive home.
The tipsy motorist gets home just fine, sleeps it off, but then regrets having done it the next day.
It’s a common scenario.
Some of the 500 people who had their license suspended for driving drunk from November to May likely know the feeling.
And it appears, more are joining their ranks. In those six months, those arrests equalled the entire number of people who were arrested on the same charge for the all of 2007.
In the opinion Gillette’s the three “care cab” drivers, there’s no reason for those numbers to be climbing ��” especially since most bars pay the $10 or less fee for a customer’s ride home.
At Attitudes Bar and Lounge, Manager Chris Bauman said they usually make five to six calls a night for care cabs. It’s worth it because of the amount of business customers bring in, Bauman said.
“If they’re drunk enough to need a care cab, they’ve spent more than $10 in the bar,” Bauman said.
Like Bauman, Mingle’s Lounge Manager John Laughlin said the cabs are helpful ��” when they show up. But at closing time, when cab calls start coming in, they can be a little slow.
They agree, if people Gillette residents want fewer drunk drivers on the road, more cab drivers are needed.
The two new cab companies that have opened in the past year may help bring down the numbers, but only if drinkers call on them.
Designated Driver
Driving drunks around from place to place is the job that Mark Neill thinks he does best.
But it’s not the 31-year-old’s only job. During the afternoon, he deliver’s pizzas to help make money to support his 29-year-old wife, Shanna, and their three children.
But knowing that Wyoming yields a high drunken driving rate per capita compared with many other states, he decided six months ago to go into business driving people home.
Unlike a regular taxi service, Neill doesn’t drive during regular business hours. He targets the irregular hours when most people choose to go out on the town.
Rarely does he receive a hard time from his inebriated clientele, but he says there is always one person a week who decides to give him a hassle.
“If people get tough with me or try to get tough with me, I just get them right out of my cab,” Neill said. “I don’t want a black eye and I don’t want my van to be tore up.”
But business isn’t booming for Neill. On average he takes four to five calls a night. On occasion, he gets 15.
When he first started, he posted flyers and told everyone that he could about the business. He even offered a deal in which he would get the customer home, while his wife would drive the customer’s car home. He said it didn’t go over well, and only one person took him up on the offer.
“I thought that I would have a lot more business than what I do,” Neill said. “I don’t think there’s any money in it.”
High gas prices this summer also affected Neill’s business, which he said doesn’t bring in enough to pay a single car payment a month.
But there are nights when he gets so many calls he has to refer them to other companies.
“There’s other cab companies and I am only one person,” Neill said.
Getting from A to B
About three months after Neill started his business, Allen Bethke started A to B Taxi Service.
Like Neill, the 42-year-old Bethke started by simple word of mouth. He’s also got a Web page and used radio and phone books ads, but it hasn’t paid off.
While there’s been a slump in the number of people who use care cabs, he’s seen increases in his regular taxi service.
Unlike Neill, Bethke and his wife, Susan, run the business during the day and also work as couriers for Gillette businesses. His wife also works full-time at the Flying J Travel Plaza to supplement the family’s income.
“People in Gillette work their butt off, and when they go out to have a good time, they need to get responsible and get rides and try to bring down these DUIs we have here,” Bethke said.
Think ahead, he said. Take a cab to the bars and plan to take a care cab home.
City Cab Company
After driving cabs in Gillette for 10 years, Robert “Paully” Tesdall has seen other cab companies come and go.
As the owner and operator of City Cab Co. and Couriers, Tesdall has noticed over the years that it’s not unusual to have month’s-long slump in business. While it could be attributed to the extra competition, Tesdall thinks that the high gas prices and cost of living have some people rethinking their evening plans.
“The drunks are driving more than they should,” Tesdall said.
Tesdall has stopped working after 3 a.m. because there are more “problem” customers who use illegal drugs or cause other problems.
Driving cabs in general is a rough game, Tesdall said, because most of the time they don’t make money. Those who do, are subsidized in some way through exclusive contracts with airports or municipalities.
“People see it on TV and they think that it’s a big money maker, and it’s not,” Tesdall said.
What’s the solution?
There is no clear solution for how to get people to use the cabs.
Bartenders say more drivers are needed. Cab drivers say the bars need to promote care cabs more and to start calling earlier in the night ��” before closing.
Police Cpl. Brent Wasson, who has worked with both groups in his department’s efforts to crack down on drunken driving, doesn’t know why people don’t use the cabs.
“Cab drivers are helping us out by taking intoxicated people from point A to point B,” Wasson said.
In the past, the police have worked closely with the cab drivers to help them when they need it, Wasson said. Bethke and Neill said that they won’t hesitate to call police when an unruly passenger warrants it, and Wasson said he encourages them to call when situations require their presence.
As far as helping cab companies stay in business, Charlotte Holden-Carr, a spokeswoman for the Substance Abuse Advisory Council, said there has been interest in building a designated driver campaign, but that her group only has basic research on what other communities do for their “tipsy-cabs.”
Her group does plan to do more research and work with the cab drivers.
Bethke has considered a partnership with the bars and the other companies to have an event where they could promote taking a cab home, but he didn’t have time this summer to organize such an event.
“I know this can work for everybody in the community, but it takes all of us together to do it,” Bethke said.
http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2008/10/20/news/sunday/news02.txt
