BATON ROUGE - Nearly 2,000 people were given a free ride home from St. Patrick's Day festivities in Baton Rouge.

According to the Dudley DeBosier law firm, 1,900 people signed up for the firm's "Free Cab Ride Home" program, which offers free rides to people in the Baton Rouge area on St. Patrick's Day. 

The program was started by Dudley DeBosier and Uber five years ago to combat an increase in drunk driving incidents during the holiday. The idea behind the creation of "Free Cab Ride Home" was to offer a safe way to get home for anyone who had something to drink, and Dudley DeBosier would pick up the cost of the Uber ride.

“It is a great day to enjoy with friends and family, but we always want to encourage everyone to enjoy it responsibly.  We would like to thank everyone that participated in our program and helped make Baton Rouge safer by not drinking and driving.” said Chad Dudley, a partner at Dudley DeBosier.

According to The Advocate, DUI arrests were down by 50% this weekend compared to the weekend of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2016.