Halloween is now as much of an adult party as a children's festival. Along with the Fourth of July, the holiday period including New Year's Eve and a few other dates, Halloween stands out as a holiday connected to an increase in drinking and driving.

If you will be out celebrating with alcohol, you can plan ahead. Assign a designated driver. Celebrate at home. Take public transportation. But if these plans fall through, the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) Halloween SoberRide program provides a safety net.

For six hours from 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 31 until 4 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1, SoberRide serves as a way to keep impaired drivers off the road. During this six-hour period, area residents ages 21 and older celebrating with alcohol may call the toll-free SoberRide phone number 1-800-200-TAXI and be afforded a no-cost (up to a $30 fare), safe way home.

Sponsors of this year's Halloween SoberRide offering include: Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Diageo, Giant, MillerCoors, Red Top Cab of Arlington, Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, Volkswagen Group of America and the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association.

Since 1993, WRAP's SoberRide program has provided 55,694 free cab rides home to would-be drunk drivers in the Greater Washington area. For more information visit www.wrap.org