An early 1980s rock band popularized Jenny’s 867-5309 telephone number, but if you are planning to drink over the holidays, you may want to call Bill instead.

For the second time this year, Bill’s Place Inc., a local nonprofit treatment facility, is offering free, safe rides for impaired drivers.

“The goal here is to get the impaired person home and off the roads — that is really in the best interest of everyone,” said Vivienne Speer, Bill’s Place executive director.

Bill’s Place offered the service for the first time during this year’s Labor Day weekend.

“After working with people in recovery for a number of years, one of the glaring reasons that stands out of why (impaired) people don’t ask for a ride home is because they don’t want to leave their car at the bar. The last thing that many people want to do is to call a taxi and leave their car because it can be such a hassle the next day,” said Speer.

“Knowing that, we came up with the idea for the safe rides. We have a two person team that responds to calls. One person becomes the driver for the impaired person in their car and the second person of the team follows them to the caller’s home.”

Safe ride drivers will only take passengers to their homes, not another event or friend’s house. According to Speer the rides are a win-win for everyone.

“Everything is anonymous. The impaired driver becomes the passenger in their own car, so it’s parked and waiting for them the next morning and there is at least one less impaired driver on the roads,” said Speer.

“We are aiming to have this service available for all designated holidays.”

The safe rides will be available from Christmas Eve through Saturday and again from Dec. 31 through Jan. 2. While the rides are free and available to any Hall County residence, contributions are welcome and vehicles must have valid insurance coverage.