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Little 500 Partiers Should Check Rideshare Drivers

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The Little 500 bicycle race takes place on Friday and Saturday.

This year’s Women’s race takes place tomorrow, at 4 p.m. The Men’s race is on Saturday, at 2 p.m. Both races take place at the Bill Armstrong Stadium, on IU’s campus.

The “World’s Greatest College Weekend” brings in over 25,000 visitors to Bloomington, each year, according to the Indiana University Student Foundation. While the race draws in thousands of spectators, many come for a week of partying. Binge drinking, brawling and sexual assault are prevalent during the week and weekend of the Little 500. In 2017, the IU Police Department reported three sexual assaults, along with two attempted abductions during the Little 500 weekend.

IU Senior Hannah Wilson was abducted and murdered, during 2015’s Little 500 weekend.

From 2013 to 2017, the Indiana University Police Department responded to an average of 131 calls during the week of Little 500. Over half of those calls, on average, come in over race weekend.

The Indiana legislature passed the lifeline law, in 2012. The Lifeline Law grants immunity from prosecution for public intoxication or underage drinking for emergency callers if they’re reporting a medical emergency, being the victim of a sex offense, or if the caller is witnessing and reporting what the person believes to be a crime.

While ridesharing services, like Uber or Lyft, offer options for people who may have been drinking, Bloomington Police Department Captain Ryan Pedigo said it’s important riders make sure they’re getting into the correct vehicle.

A few weeks ago, a University of South Carolina student was murdered, after mistakenly getting into a car she believed was her Uber.

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