5 situations when you need a sober driver

Contents

1. After a restaurant or a celebration
2. Medication
3. Fatigue after a long day
4. A celebration out of town
5. You need the car in the morning

Deciding not to drive is easy when you already know how you’ll get home. It’s hardest when the car is right there, the keys are in your pocket and home is “only ten minutes away”. These are the situations where a sober driver is the best way out: you and the car are both home by morning.

1. After a restaurant or a celebration

Even a small amount of alcohol slows your reactions and blurs your sense of distance — while you yourself feel perfectly confident. That is exactly why “I’m fine” after a couple of glasses is almost always wrong.

A sober driver comes to the restaurant, takes the wheel of your car and drives you home. No going back for the car in the morning, no paying for overnight parking.

The best ride is one with nothing to remember: the car at your door and the keys in your hand.

2. Medication

Some medicines cause drowsiness or slow your reactions — the leaflet says so plainly: “may affect your ability to drive”. That includes everyday allergy and cold remedies, and what you might be given at the dentist.

If in doubt, don’t take the risk. A driver can take you home in your car — or, if you don’t need it, in theirs.

3. Fatigue after a long day

A night shift, a long flight, hours on the road or simply a sleepless night — a tired driver reacts noticeably slower, and nodding off on an empty road at night is easier than it sounds.

If your eyes keep closing, hand the wheel to someone who has slept.

4. A celebration out of town

A wedding at a country restaurant, a birthday at a dacha, an evening in Tsaghkadzor or Garni — the drive back at night is long, and a taxi out of town is hard to find.

You can book a driver in advance for when the party ends: choose “Scheduled” in the order and set the date and time. The driver comes to the place and drives you and your car back to Yerevan.

5. You need the car in the morning

Leave the car at the restaurant and you’ll have to go back for it in the morning — before work, in a hurry, sometimes across town. And if you need it early, for the school run or errands, the day starts with a problem.

With a sober driver the car is already at your door, and the keys are with you.

If in doubt, don’t drive. Book a driver: it takes a minute.