I'M DRUNK app promises safe rides home nationwide

At least two or three times a month, a new victim of drunken driving walks into the Fort Myers office of personal injury attorney Carmen Deluttri needing legal help.

Some have been injured by a drunk driver. Others have lost a loved one. At best, Deluttri might help them with a financial settlement.

It’s a part of his business Deluttri, 50, said he would just as soon do without.

“There’s not one client I’ve ever had who was injured by a drunk driver who said, ‘Thank God for the money,’” Deluttri said. “They all say, ‘I wish it never would have happened.’ Money can’t replace health or a life.”

Last June, Deluttri and his friend, local businessman Tom Marquardt, 45, were chatting about possible solutions to the problem of drunken driving, which killed 797 people on Florida roads in 2015 and 10,265 around the country, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Their solution, the I’M DRUNK smartphone app, was released to the public earlier this year in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.

The app, which is free to download and use, is designed to help people anywhere in the United States who have had too much to drink find a safe ride home. With two clicks, the app directs users to a variety of alternatives in their zip code – taxi companies, ride-share and tow-and-go services.

“I’ve met people who don’t feel comfortable with Uber. We’re not condoning one ride-share over another,” Deluttri said.  “We’re saying, choose the one you’re comfortable with, and here’s all your options.”

Deluttri, Marquardt and their business partners, Casey Byrus, 29, and Richard Hassab, 30, worked with an app developer in India to develop the product. Marquardt said that before releasing the app they conducted focus group tests and showed it to people at Mothers Against Drunk Driving events.

The app’s logo – A clearly intoxicated yellow emoji with a martini in one hand and a cell phone in the other – and its blunt, up-front name, I’M DRUNK, are meant to be shocking and memorable.

About 1,500 people have downloaded the I’M DRUNK app so far, with the majority in Southwest Florida, Marquardt said. Their goal is to have 100,000 people click through the app by the end of the year.

“This isn’t the end-all solution. It’s part of the greater solution until vehicles can self-drive … which is 20, 30 years away,” Marquardt said. “This app takes care of the problem today. There is never a need to ever drink and drive again.”

I’M DRUNK is not the first app promising to help impaired drivers get home. In 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a product, its SaferRide app, which helps connect users with cabs. Several states also offer similar apps.

“Nobody was offering a complete solution in every zip code in America,” Marquardt said.

So far, Deluttri and Marquardt have been paying to build the app and keep it functioning. They are looking for “mission partners” to help with funding so they can continue to market the product. They are starting by targeting personal injury attorneys like Deluttri across the country, with an initial goal of signing up one “mission partner” from each state at $200 a month.

They also see the platform as an advertising vehicle for a variety of businesses, including bars, restaurants and car dealers.

“We literally can slice and dice as many ads as we want to by the hour in every zip code,” Marquardt said.

Lori Burke, the program director for the Southwest Florida chapter of MADD, said products like the I’M DRUNK app can be part of people’s plans to get home safely if they’ve been drinking or are impaired.

“The plan might be to have this app and use this app. The plan might be a designated driver. The plan might be Uber,” she said. “Why take your chance causing any devastation to yourself or anyone else?”

If the app is successful in the U.S., Deluttri said, they’re eyeing possible expansion into international markets with high densities of people and cars. But measuring success may always be difficult.

“If somebody in Milwaukee chooses to get a ride home and doesn’t drive and somebody else is alive tomorrow morning, we don’t know that,” he said. “We’ll never know.”

For more information: www.imdrunk.tech.