Business Spotlight: Driving Down DWIs

Joe Williams knows the toll a DWI can take.

He’s experienced them personally.

“What was my reason? I never wanted to leave my car behind,” he says. “Alcohol makes you feel like you can do things you can’t do. It makes you feel like you can drive.”

To help others avoid the same violation and boost traffic safety in the Queen City, Williams launched Substitute Drivers LLC in late 2011. Williams says his own DWI was an impetus to start his business.

With 25 part- and full-time employees now on board, the company’s drivers work in pairs to pick up intoxicated customers and their vehicles. One driver hops in the customer’s car and drives the vehicle and owner home, while his team member follows behind.

Williams says Substitute Drivers utilizes the “occasional driver” clause in insurance policies, which sets the business apart from taxicab companies since customers only ever ride home in their own vehicles.

“Insurance always follows the car and never the driver,” he says.

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Speed dial
Nearly all of Substitute Drivers’ clientele – kept confidential – are under the influence of alcohol when they’re picked up.

Since much of the company’s work relies on bar traffic, Substitute Drivers keeps late hours, starting at 8 p.m. and ending after 2 a.m. On busier weekends, Williams says the company averages 50 calls per night, and pickups double on nights with downtown pub crawls. The drivers pick up customers anywhere in Springfield for a flat $30 fee, but the rate increases by $5 increments outside of city limits. They’ve even taken customers to Joplin a time or two.

The company’s drivers visit Drunken Monkey Bar & Grill around twice a week, says owner Heather Welker.

The proprietor of the 1816 W. Division St. dive bar says bartenders keep Substitute Drivers business cards on hand for patrons.

“The greatest thing is you wake up the next day and your car’s in your driveway,” Welker says. “Thirty dollars is a lot cheaper than a DWI.”

Running a business that caters to drunken people could be a dangerous proposition, Williams admits, but he says clients typically behave themselves.

“They’ve got something to lose,” he says, noting most customers are grateful to have the option. “We’re thankful they make us part of their plan.”

Williams background checks all of his drivers, who also must be insured and submit to drug and alcohol tests. The practice is meant to build trust.

“We do that proactively, without being told or being required to by the city,” he says. “When you’re asking people to hand you the keys to their car, you want them to be comfortable and feel like they’re handing their keys to someone who’s competent and safe to drive them. The only way to earn that trust is to do those things.”

Declining to disclose revenues, Williams says customers run the gamut in age, though college students aren’t a huge part of the equation. Missouri State University students, for instance, can safely walk or take a shuttle downtown to grab a drink. But Substitute Drivers doesn’t discriminate in its quest to rid Springfield of DWIs.

“You can get one whether you’re 16 or 35,” Williams says.

Sobering statistics
A company like Substitute Drivers has a direct impact on the health of a community. The business model helps keep people alive by giving them another option beyond getting behind the wheel, and the drivers can potentially save thousands of dollars or even the loss of their license.

Substitute Drivers is not the only ride in town. Safe Rides LLC operates a similar model, but the rate structure varies with an $8 vehicle fee and $2 per mile, according to its website.

Police officers are supportive of the services.

“The Springfield Police Department commends any effort to eliminate driving under the influence, and offering transportation to those who may find themselves in that situation is a great and necessary service,” says Police Chief Paul Williams, via email.

Data tracked by the department indicates DWI arrests have fallen in recent years.

DWIs in the city totaled 648 in 2015, a nearly 15 percent decrease from 760 in 2014 and 39 percent drop from 1,057 in 2013. The average DWI arrest per month during those years fell from 88 in 2013 to 63 in 2014 and 54 in 2015.

“It is difficult to pinpoint one solid reason for the decrease,” Springfield Police Department spokesman Lisa Cox says. “Our hope is that the simplest reason is true: that fewer people are getting behind the wheel while impaired by drugs or alcohol.”