Safe Rides are not drunk rides: Drivers have authority to call police
People usually know they are in trouble when they find themselves in the back seat of a patrol vehicle with flashing lights on the roof.
For most Central Michigan University students, this is a situation where they know they are safe.
Safe Rides, which offers free rides on campus from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. each night, is well known to students on campus, but many might not know the drivers have more authority than just driving them around.
Drivers also can call the police if they find people are out of line and are obligated to do so.
“Normally, if a student is drunk, the drivers will just refuse to pick them up,” said Tom Giordano, lead dispatcher for CMU Police. “However, if a student is dangerously intoxicated, or there is an issue like the one that recently occurred, the drivers are told to contact the campus police and we will take care of it.”
The situation Giordano mentioned occurred last month, when two Safe Ride drivers called the police for harassment after they refused to drive three intoxicated students.
Not a ‘drunk taxi’
Safe Rides is a service for students who are concerned about walking alone on campus in the dark, not for drunk students, Giordano said.
Royal Oak senior Sarah Smith, a Safe Rides employee, said she sometimes she has taken students as far as they can go on campus just so they can walk to their final destination.
“Sometimes, people will have us drive them to a place on campus that is close to their actual destination, which is off campus,” Smith said. “On welcome weekend, we had a few students request a ride to the BCA building so they could walk to the Wayside — we knew what they were up to.”
Bay City junior Andrew Wright, a Safe Rides employee, explained some of the rules for the drivers.
“We are allowed to have three people in the back seat, but we do not pick up groups of three for safety reasons,” Wright said. “We definitely don’t service drunken students or people who are out of order.”
The drivers have their share of interesting on-the-job stories.
Saginaw freshman Amelia Cortez recently started working for Safe Rides, but already ran into some unique circumstances.
“You definitely meet some interesting people who send you on wild goose chases,” Cortez said. “The best part about it is you get to meet all of the police on campus.”
Cortez also said the working hours can be harsh because they conflict with some of the employees’ studying time, but it is still fun.
