Tulsa - A program aimed at getting drinking drivers off the road is expanding, both statewide and in the number of holidays it covers.

For twenty years, drivers in Tulsa and Oklahoma City could call Tipsy Tow for a lift home. But, the program has now been extended to five additional cities and the holidays included in the Tipsy Tow program have also expanded and now include Saint Patrick's day, the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.

"This year we're expanding to six other holidays," says AAA Spokesperson Rick Bickford. "Just knowing there's some on the road that have had too much. We just want to get them off the road, so they're not putting others at risk."

He says they've expanded the Tipsy Tow program because it's worked in Tulsa and Oklahoma City for more than 20 years. Now, in addition to Tulsa and Oklahoma City, residents of Muskogee, Ardmore, Enid, Lawton and Shawnee can call them as well.

"During the holidays, we tend to get caught up in the excitement of the party and have too much," says Bickford. "It's a fail safe thing you can always fall back on ands it'll get you home safely."

To get a free ride home for you and your car, call 1-800-AAA-HELP (4357). One of the dispatchers will get a tow truck out to you. Drivers like Rob Warrington will take two people and a car home if it's within 15 miles of the pickup point.

"They take you home or to a shop if there's something wrong with your car," Warrington says. "But not to another party or a bar."

Becky Fish lost her 16 year old daughter Julie in a car accident caused by a drunk driver nine years ago -- a daughter who could have lived if someone had used something like Tipsy Tow.

"I wish that would have happened," Becky says. "You know I wish that she had called someone to come and get her. She was in a car with a drunk driver. If she had only done that or called me, you know there's always someone you can call."

Last year, over the Christmas and New Years holiday in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, AAA's Tipsy Tow program got more than two hundred drivers and their cars home safely. No DUI arrests, no accidents.

 Email To Friend