Let CAA North & East Ontario Drive You Home

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 18, 2012) - You are overcome by a sudden illness, or perhaps the glasses you rely on to see while driving have cracked, or maybe a stressful situation has left you shaky and now you are faced with the predicament of how to safely get yourself and your vehicle home. CAA North & East Ontario (CAANEO) is pleased to announce a new service for Members that will assist them in getting to a safe location when it is not advisable for them to drive.

Commencing April 18, 2012, Drive You Home is a new benefit that provides CAA North & East Ontario Plus and Premier Members with the ability to use one of their allotted service calls per membership year for transportation to a safe location if they decide - for whatever reason - that getting behind the wheel of their vehicle could jeopardize their safety and the safety of other road users. Be it due to fatigue, illness, injury, drowsiness, compromised eyesight, stress, or alcohol consumption, CAANEO will tow the vehicle and transport the Member up to 25 kilometres.

Drive You Home is yet another way that CAANEO is striving to ensure the well-being of all road users, while also working to meet the needs and expectations of Members. As is the case with CAANEO's renowned roadside assistance program, calls for service under Drive You Home will be prioritized based on concerns for immediate safety.

"The safety of our Members and the general public is at the forefront of all our endeavours at CAA North & East Ontario," said Tim Georgeoff, President and CEO of CAA North & East Ontario. "We are proud to be able to introduce Drive You Home in an effort to mitigate the occurrence of avoidable injuries and fatalities on our local roadways."

This new free Plus and Premier Member benefit also reaffirms CAANEO's stance against impaired driving, which continues to be a key issue of concern amongst the Club's Members. Drive You Home joins an existing array of initiatives under CAANEO's advocacy portfolio that the Club has undertaken in recent years in an effort to eliminate impaired driving, including the sponsorship of many Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (R.I.D.E.) programs in municipalities throughout North & East Ontario.

A blackout period coinciding with the annual Operation Red Nose™ campaign will be put into effect every December regarding requests for Drive You Home service pertaining to intoxication, as a way to avoid interference with this valuable community service provided by this seasonal road safety campaign.

More information about Drive You Home can be found at caaneo.ca.

For more than 100 years, the Canadian Automobile Association has provided travel, emergency road services, insurance and advocacy for its Members.