(Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Impaired driving awareness

Safe ride home service reports drop in use

Jan 3, 2020 | 11:38 AM

Another year of Operation Red Nose is in the books.

In Prince Albert, volunteers helped provide 313 rides, covering a distance of 4,556 km and ensuring 673 people safely returned home. Coordinator Randy Braaten told paNOW he was happy with the results, but noted there was room for improvement.

“It would be nice to see more people using the service. When you drive around you see people which probably should have phoned us that are still driving,” he said.

The Prince Albert Police Service reported on Thursday they received five complaints through the Report Impaired Drivers program from New Year’s Eve through to New Year’s Day. A 59-year-old woman was charged with impaired driving following a motor vehicle accident that happened just before 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

“It sounds like there’s a lot of people not getting the message that there are services available to get them home without having to drive impaired,” Braaten said.

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In total, 172 volunteers helped out locally including 11 students from the Aboriginal policing program at Sask Polytech. (Facebook/ Operation Red Nose Prince Albert)

Provincially 623 volunteers were involved in this year’s program, and helped 850 motorists. Braaten said he is very thankful for 172 volunteers locally, but added it would be nice to see people spread their time over the entire stretch of the campaign, to help give others a break.

“Some of our volunteers were there every night for 11 nights through the holidays and I’m still trying to drink enough coffee to stay awake,” he said.

This year marked the program’s 36th anniversary. Operation Red Nose is a non-profit organization with a mission to encourage responsible behaviour with regard to impaired driving in a nonjudgmental manner, by enabling communities to provide a free and confidential chauffeur service to their members.

The money it raises is redistributed to local organizations dedicated to youth and amateur sports, and invested in responsible consumption and road safety awareness programs. Locally, $6,485 was collected in donations.

In addition to thanking all the volunteers, Braaten also asked to extend a big thank you to all the local car dealerships who helped out, as well as the pizza restaurants who helped ensure the volunteers remained fueled up.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell