Video: Nonprofits, University Offer Options to Reduce Drunk Driving

Editor’s note: Make it Missoula has partnered with the University of Montana’s Online News class, taught by Lee Banville, to create a new Citizen Journalism feature that’s all about local views, stories, and issues. We’re excited to provide these students with a platform so they can objectively explore and report about the topics they think reflect the lives and times of Missoula and its citizens.

By GRADY HIGGINS and MATT HUDSON

Volunteers and student-supported services are working to make the late-night streets of Missoula safer.

According to experts, people often drive drunk because they are too impatient to wait for a cab or cannot afford another way home.

Services like UDash, a University of Montana bus that runs until 2:30 a.m. on weekends, and U Call Us, a donation-supported designated driver service, the excuses for impaired driving are growing thin.

Both are in business to get you home, even if you have no money in your pocket.