This Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day, and that could spell trouble. Coming on the first full day of a weekend, this drinking holiday could mean trouble on the area roads. Did you know that there are historically more alcohol-related fatalities on St. Patrick’s Day than there are on New Year’s Day across the country? One of the reasons is that this is what many bartenders call amateur hour, where people tend to drink a lot more than they are used to and a lot more than they should. I must admit that I don’t understand the allure of green beer, but it’s out there and it draws in a lot of people.

This year, as they have since the early 1990s, the Washington Regional Alcohol Program is offering its SoberRide program. Thanks to area cab companies, SoberRide offers free cab rides home for those who’ve had too much. The service will be available from 4 p.m. on Saturday to 6 a.m. on Sunday. All you have to do is take this number with you as you head out to celebrate the wearing of the green: 800-200-TAXI.

Since 1993, the SoberRide program has taken well over 30,000 would-be drunken drivers home. That means that those people weren’t getting behind the wheel of their cars when they shouldn’t have.

SoberRide is a brilliant program that saves lives. Its brilliance is in the fact you don’t have to plan ahead. If you find you’ve overdone it or, just as important, if you find one of your friends has had too much, dial 800-200-TAXI and help them get home safely. The roads will be safer for all of us as a result.

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In response to the column on Monday about the problems with the District’s parking meter enforcement program, a reader sent in the following: “Very interesting article. I parked at a meter on the SW waterfront that was not registering monies put into it. I put a sign on the meter: ‘Not Working.’ Got a ticket. Went to court. Court’s ruling was to send someone to get verification that the meter was not working. Verdict came back that meter was working. I paid the fine because it was cheaper than losing another day of work and hiring a lawyer. Will the city reimburse me now that they know there was a problem with their meters?”

They’ll reimburse you as soon as pigs can fly.

You may have heard this week that a number of the city’s red-light cameras are not functioning and that the problem was only discovered by the new company coming in to take over the contract. I have heard from several people now that there have been numerous reports of cables slashed, wires cut and other acts of vandalism. The suspicion is that some outgoing employees may have done the deed(s). I’m not going to hold my breath that any of this gets investigated, or that the city makes a huge attempt to get some of the money back that it lost.

Questions, comments, random musings? Write to Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com.