New Bedford’s South Coast Towing Expanding Free Tow Program for New Year’s Eve

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — For more than 20 years, New Bedford-based South Coast Towing has been providing its free “Safe Rides Home” program on New Year’s Eve to ensure folks on the SouthCoast can get home safely if they’ve partied a little too hard.

This year, they’re starting earlier than ever before, offering free tows and a safe ride home to anyone who has had too much to drink on New Year’s Eve.

South Coast Towing is expanding the program by an hour, beginning the service at 11 p.m. instead of the usual midnight start time. Owner Chris Medeiros said the need to start early came about because people leave parties and events before midnight while already intoxicated.

“We’re getting an earlier start because people aren’t waiting until midnight to get on the roads,” he said. “Not everybody makes it to midnight.”

The service is available until 3 a.m. in the communities of Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Fall River, Freetown, New Bedford and Westport.

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Enter their number – (508) 995-9777 – into your phone now so that you’ll have it handy on New Year’s Eve, or if you need to share it with a friend who needs a safe ride home.

South Coast Towing has been offering the Safe Rides Home program since 2001, and has likely saved countless lives by ensuring SouthCoasters get home safely. Medeiros estimated that in those years, they’ve towed more than 100 vehicles as part of the program, likely saving countless lives in the process.

He said the idea all started 25 years ago, when he was called to the scene of a crash.

“I went to an accident that was an OUI, a really bad one,” he said.

At that moment, he decided he would offer free tows and rides home to hopefully keep a crash like that from happening again. Two decades later, people are actually becoming proactive about utilizing the Safe Rides Home program.

“We actually have some people schedule a time with us to pick them up before they go out, and we encourage people to spread the word about it,” Medeiros said.

Medeiros said they have “gotten to everybody” who has called them over the years, and that “some people are still drinking” when the tow truck arrives.

He said even if it will take them a little while to get to their vehicle to tow it, they’ll still make sure the person calling can get home safely.