The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) was one of five State Highway Safety Offices to receive a grant from GHSA and ride-hailing company Lyft to prevent impaired driving during the 2019 holiday season. With its grant, California OTS offered Lyft credits to promote the use of safe alternatives to impaired driving through its "Go Safely, California" traffic safety awareness effort. This broad effort helps Californians get where they are going — safely.
One of the main focuses of “Go Safely, California” is to highlight ride-hailing as a viable option to help prevent impaired driving–related injuries and fatalities. To support this effort, California OTS created a media plan to drive clicks to the Lyft app in order to provide users with a safe and discounted ride to their destinations. The campaign’s media plan targeted the four major media markets in California: Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco.
California OTS used the Lyft credits to supplement its new “Go Safely DUI” winter campaign. Facebook and Instagram posts promoting the Lyft credits were scheduled during the Christmas and New Year holidays due to the higher inclination to use a ride-hailing service during these time periods.
Ultimately, the grant funds helped California OTS promote safe alternatives to impaired driving, while also helping both new and existing Lyft users arrive safely at their destinations at a discounted price during the 2019 holiday season. The campaign resulted in 2,089 redeemed credits statewide, along with ad impressions totaling nearly 2.7 million between Facebook and Instagram. Hundreds of lives were potentially saved as a result of this effort.