Monterey Park : ‘Safe Rides’ to Be Expanded
The city of Monterey Park has agreed to administer a state grant of $250,000 for an area-wide expansion of Safe Rides, an effort to discourage drunk driving by teen-agers. Patterned after a program in Connecticut, Safe Rides was organized a year ago to provide rides home for teen-agers from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights in Alhambra, Monterey Park, San Gabriel and South Pasadena.
A grant tentatively approved by the state Office of Traffic Safety would expand the program to the entire San Gabriel Valley. The goal is to form chapters of Students Against Drunk Driving at 60 high schools, develop peer counseling programs and establish eight Safe Rides centers. The project, tentatively scheduled to begin in February, would include an evaluation of drunk driving statistics to measure the program’s effectiveness.
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