After 28 years as a firefighter responding to road trauma across southern Tasmania, Adam Meredith decided he wanted to do something to try and prevent it.
The Hobart Fire Brigade veteran has launched a new service through his new towing business, Yogi and Sons Towing, designed to take the temptation out of driving home after a few drinks.
Called Skip the Drive, Keep Your Ride, it works simply.
Call ahead and Meredith will load your car onto his tilt-tray truck and drive you and up to one other passenger home safely.
“I’ve obviously gone to a lot of road trauma over those 28 years,” Meredith told Pulse.
“I thought to myself, how can we try and curb the way? Alcohol’s one of the ‘fatal five’ and I thought, well, why not utilise the tow truck and get people home safely?”
The service runs on Friday and Saturday nights across southern Tasmania, with pricing based on roughly double the UberX rate for the same trip, with a minimum of $50.
Meredith said the key selling point is waking up with your car already in the driveway.
“That’s the biggest thing. It’s to try and take the temptation away of people jumping in their car and driving home or even jumping in their car the next morning when you’re still over .05,” he said.
He encouraged people to book earlier in the evening to allow for travel time, particularly for those further afield.
The launch comes after a deadly week on Tasmanian roads, with four people killed and four others critically injured in crashes since Friday.
Three people died in a crash at Elizabeth Town on Friday, while a woman was killed and two others critically injured in a head-on crash at Old Beach on Monday.
Police have urged motorists to take care every time they travel.
Meredith said he hoped the initiative gave people another option other than driving when they should not be.
“If we can save one life then that’s a win, you know?” he said.
“Hopefully the community get behind it and we can expand it further and further as we go.”
The service can be booked by calling 0456 630 221.
