Orange County Register

Monday, June 16, 2003

By JIM RADCLIFFE

“Scooter patrol takes wheel so the drunk don't roll dice.
Inebriated go home in their own cars, as passengers, thanks to mobile volunteers”.

SUNSET BEACH – Telephone rings - another tipsy customer.

Anthony Panzica leaves his apartment, hops aboard his red scooter and putt-putts into darkness.

He walks into a bar, finds out from the bartender who his customer is. Then he folds down the handlebars of the scooter and tucks it into the customer's trunk. He drives home the potential drunken driver in the person's vehicle.

Panzica - a 37-year-old who works corporate functions as a James Dean look-alike - has been scooting to drinking establishments for a month to scoop up those who have overdone it.

He has kick-started an unusual and free service called Sunset Transport Unlimited. Panzica gives free rides home to people who've imbibed a bit too much at the watering holes that line the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway from Seal Beach to Huntington Harbour.

The reason, he insisted, is simple.

"If you just try to do something, step up; sometimes you can make a difference, you know?" said Panzica, who rides home on his pint-size scooter after playing guardian angel to wobbly motorists.

His service is made up of himself, three other volunteers, two scooters and a rented desk above a hamburger joint. For now, only Panzica is shuttling customers. Everyone else answers the phone or shadows Panzica to learn the system. He spreads the word about Sunset Transport by chatting up bar owners and tenders and posting fliers in their establishments.

Some bartenders, who refer to Panzica as Scooter, phone him when they believe a customer might be better off if someone else did the driving.

"I'm not going to put my business cards on windows and wonder who is going to be calling," Panzica said late Friday night in front of Turc's, a Sunset Beach bar. "I wanted some control."

Panzica barhops Wednesday through Saturday nights and on Sunday afternoons, to growing gratitude.

"This guy's willing to take you home - plus your car's going to be there," said J.D. Lewis, who has owned J. Dee's Bar & Grill on Pacific Coast Highway since the early 1990s. "I have a few regulars who love him to death. This is very, very good."

Sunset Transport tries to meet the drinker within 15 minutes and will drive up to 10 miles from the pickup spot.

Taxi companies sometimes offer free lifts to drinkers on holidays. But police officials of cities across the county said Panzica's efforts sound unique.

"Any time you can take a drunk driver off of the street, we're all for it," said Sgt. Gary Meza of the Huntington Beach Police Department, who was not familiar with Panzica's service.

Meza did say that both the motorist and Panzica should use common sense, making sure they are comfortable with each other. After all, Meza said, the customer could get home, realize a wallet is missing and blame Sunset Transport.

Reidel Post, executive director of Orange County's branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said it is better to separate drinkers from their cars. Once home, they might drive before sobering up.
"Is it better than having them drive home drunk?" Post said. "Yes. But it falls short of the optimum goal of preplanning and choosing a designated driver."

Panzica, of course, said his service is worthy.

Taxis can take too long, he said, a situation that encourages the drinker to drive home or head back into the bar.

"People don't want to leave their cars - they roll the dice," Panzica said. "Sometimes, they kill people." And when Panzica drives them home, the passengers also get to listen to their favorite CD.

Daily calls range from zero to 10 or 15. The phone rings at his home as well as Sunset Transport's desk - he has gotten calls on Mondays and Tuesdays, his off days.

"If it's feasible, I'll do it," Panzica said.

He hopes he can someday get funding for the service - allowing it to grow well beyond the beach bars of PCH. More volunteers would mean he could cut down on his own hours.

John Rance, a former Department of Motor Vehicles lawyer, used Sunset Transport on Friday night. He had gone out for a bite to eat and friends suggested he have a beer. He said “no”. They countered, “but you can call Anthony” (Panzica).''
If Sunset Transport hadn't showed up, Rance said, he would have walked or hailed a cab. But there was Panzica.

"I don't drink and drive," said Rance, 53, of Huntington Beach. "(But) the easier it is, the more likely someone (else) will do it the right way rather than the wrong way."

CONTACT US: (949) 454-7358 or jradcliffe@ocregister.com