Lyft Wants To Keep Coloradans From Driving While High

The Colorado Department of Transportation is teaming up with rideshare service Lyft and a marijuana industry group to promote sober driving.

Starting this month, marijuana users in Colorado will be offered discounted Lyft rides as part of the 320 Movement’s initiative to plan for a ride before getting high. The Marijuana Industry Group (MIG) will partner with CDOT and Lyft.

Through April 2018, the 320 Movement is providing monthly discounted Lyft rides to marijuana users and will send users to 320movement.com to obtain the discounts and learn about the dangers of driving high.

According to the Colorado State Patrol, 17 percent DUI arrests in 2017 involved marijuana. In Colorado, a DUI can cost you more than $13,500, in addition to jail time.

“Despite the fact that marijuana impairs judgement, coordination, decision-making and reaction time, an alarming number of users – 55 percent – still believe that it is safe to drive under the influence of marijuana,” said Sam Cole, CDOT’s traffic safety communications manager. “We have partnered with Lyft and MIG in an effort to combat this belief while also providing marijuana users with a safe ride, so they don’t even have to consider driving high.”

CDOT and Lyft launched the 320 Movement in March 2017, a month before Denver’s Civic Center Park’s celebration of cannabis culture on April 20 to remind the tens of thousands of people expected to attend to plan for a safe ride first. The goal? To make 320 as well known as 420. The spring 320 Movement push included free and discounted Lyft rides throughout the month of April. In total, 3,800 Lyft discount codes were retrieved with nearly 1,200 being redeemed.

• Related Story: This Is What Lyft Is Doing To Keep People From Driving High In Colorado

“Marijuana Industry Group is proud to continue this important partnership with CDOT and Lyft and to help extend the 320 Movement rideshare program, the first of its kind,” said Kristi Kelly, executive director of MIG. “Our ask is simple: If you choose to legally consume cannabis, plan ahead and don’t get behind the wheel. The 320 Movement is important, because we are offering an easy alternative to driving, and discounted rides make it even easier. The reduction of impaired driving is a shared priority, and state government and Colorado’s cannabis industry are united in their ongoing commitment to raising awareness of, and reducing the incidence of, any impairment while driving.”

• Related Story: Colorado Marijuana DUIs Down One Third From 2016

As part of the 320 Movement continuation campaign, CDOT will deliver toolkits to 125 Colorado dispensaries to encourage them to promote marijuana safety information and the discounted Lyft ride codes to their customers. The toolkits include window clings and postcards for dispensaries to display and distribute, as well as social media assets and suggested captions and hashtags for Facebook and Instagram. Catchy messaging, such as “Puff, puff, pass the driving to Lyft” and “If you load it, CDOT will help you Lyft it,” aims to resonate with marijuana users and raise awareness of the alternatives to driving high.

CDOT’s partnership with Lyft and MIG is part of their Drive High, Get a DUI campaign, which aims to educate drivers about the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana with the goal of reducing the number of drug-related DUIs, traffic crashes and fatalities. For more information on marijuana impaired driving, visit the CDOT website.