ON ANY GIVEN DAY, someone in South Jersey is waking up with a splitting headache and a stomach full of regret after too much partying.
They may wake up on a stranger's couch, with no memory of how they got there, until they wince at the sight of their car outside.
Or they may wake up in a jail cell.
As a former manager of bars and restaurants in South Jersey, Jerry Adams has seen the scenario play out too many times.
Like most people, he's known at least one person whose life has been temporarily derailed, or worse, by a drunk-driving arrest or accident.
"It affects everyone," said Adams, 34, sitting at a table at Ott's Bar in Medford, Burlington County, recently. "One DWI or one crash can take everything away."
Adams, during a stretch of unemployment, started a business grounded on what he says is a sobering reality: designated drivers, two-drink maximums and the best of intentions often get clouded by alcohol.
Adams' business, Sober Sam, is a Cherry Hill-based designated-driver service. Too drunk to drive? For a fee, a Sober Sam driver will drive you home in your own car (a following car then picks up the Sober Sam driver.)
The prices vary according to the hour and mileage. From midnight to 2 a.m., for example, it's $25 for the first three miles plus $2.50 each additional mile. From 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., it's $30 for first three miles plus $3 each additional mile.
The concept is not a new one, but Adams says the service is sorely needed in sprawling South Jersey, where life without a car is next to impossible. Between July and September of 2009, there were 882 DWI arrests in Camden County alone, court records show. Cherry Hill averages 20 DWI arrests per month.
"Last week, we popped into a bar at 1 a.m. and had five customers within 45 minutes," said Adams, 34.
Customers, he says, have included those coming from bachelor parties, weddings and concerts, but are often people who just lacked a way to get to the bar other than their own car.
"It's as simple as a phone call," he said.
Bar owners, police officers and even attorneys who specialize in DWI cases think it's a good idea, even if there are a few inherent pitfalls involved with shuffling drunk people around.
"If it can be done correctly, it's one less intoxicated driver on the road," said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police.
Based on recent court statistics, there are plenty of intoxicated drivers on the road in the New Jersey, despite the ever-present threat of checkpoints, special patrols and the potential loss of license or jail time.
According to state court statistics, 37,597 people were arrested for DWI offenses in New Jersey between July 2008 and July 2009. The state's Division of Highway Traffic Safety also claims that 154 of the 591 traffic fatalities in 2008 were alcohol-related.
At Ott's, bartenders are trained to detect intoxicated patrons, keeping close eyes on their drink tab, behavior and when they try to leave.
Bob Wagner, a managing partner at Ott's four locations, said his employees can't physically restrain someone or take their keys, but they do call 9-1-1 when an intoxicated customer tries to leave.
"It's not like the city, where you can walk out the door and hop into a cab," Wagner said. "Here, you might wait two hours for a cab to show up."
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