On a typical Friday night on Northgate one can spot a number of Aggies decked out in bright green T-shirts looking for people who need a safe ride home.
Those students are volunteers with Caring Aggies are Protecting Over Our Lives, an organization that began in 1999, aimed at giving students a safe ride home after a night of drinking.
CARPOOL reached a milestone Friday night as it gave its 50,000th ride since it began operating.
"This milestone says a lot for the people who are a part of the organization and how we have impacted our community," said Lauren Barbier, a senior journalism major and director of CARPOOL public relations.
CARPOOL began on Sept. 16, 1999, by former A&M student Jeff Schiefelbein who, after receiving a DWI in College Station, went to a Mother's Against Drunk Driving impact panel where he was inspired by a tragic drunk driving story and decided to begin a program unlike any other in the nation.
"CARPOOL was created to serve the community, keep Aggies and others safe, make roads safer and make the community safer," Barbier said.
At the end of this past weekend CARPOOL had given a total of 50,409 rides, with 5,264 rides in the spring semester alone, and 12,209 rides for the 2003-04 school year - almost a 20 percent increase from last year's numbers, Barbier said.
"We are really excited about this," Barbier said. "It's so great to see that in five years the community and the students at A&M have really embraced CARPOOL."
Drivers Patrick Barrett and Heather Tijerina gave the milestone ride, and said they were excited to be a part of it.
Tijerina, a sophomore psychology major, said this is her first semester with the program and that Friday was a busy night for her and Barrett.
"To me it means that 50,000 people have been kept safe, and we are looking forward to another 50,000," Tijerina said.
Ben Carter, a senior finance and marketing major and CARPOOL chair, said it was inspiring to reach this many rides, and that CARPOOL has been focusing on not just giving rides to people, but promoting the message of making responsible decisions.
"I think this is a great milestone for CARPOOL; it shows our members hard work and shows dedication and the community's continued support," said Carter, who has been a member of CARPOOL since its second semester of operations.
Carter said CARPOOL has helped start seven sister programs at different universities in the nation, including Watchdawgs (University of Georgia), SWAT (Texas State University), STRIPES (Univer-sity of Missouri), CatsRIDE (Arizona University) and RamRides (Colorado Univer-sity), with 15 more such programs at different locations in the works.
CARPOOL runs Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m to 3 a.m.
CARPOOL will run through the remainder of this semester with its last day of operations on May 8. CARPOOL will not run during the summer, but will return in the fall.
Currently, CARPOOL has 275 student volunteers and has increased the number of cars it runs to 14. CARPOOL averages about 180 rides each night.
"We really hope to keep growing; we know that there always is going to be students in this community who will benefit from this service," Barbier said. "We want students to make responsible decisions."
Barbier said reaching this number of rides is encouraging to the volunteers and hopes that those who use the service continue to use it. She encourages those who have not taken advantage of the service to try it if they become intoxicated and need a ride home.
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