Manitoba highway security marketing campaign honours victims of impaired driving – Winnipeg

Tanya Hansen Pratt nonetheless remembers the shock she felt 23 years in the past when her brother referred to as to inform her their mom was useless.

“I had no technique to course of that data,” she mentioned.

Her mom, Beryl Hansen, was strolling close to their household farm outdoors Portage la Prairie when she was struck and killed by an impaired driver. She was 59 years outdated.

Just some weeks later, Hansen Pratt attended a Moms Towards Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada assembly. She now serves because the Winnipeg chapter’s vice-president.

MADD Canada and KAG Canada, a North American trucking firm, celebrated the tenth 12 months of their highway security partnership at this time by putting Beryl’s picture on 20 of KAG Canada’s vehicles. It’s a part of an ongoing marketing campaign that encourages motorists to report suspected impaired drivers by calling 9-1-1.

Pictures of victims from Alberta, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and British Columbia have additionally been featured previously decade.

MADD Canada Chief Working Officer Daybreak Regan attended the revealing at KAG Canada’s Oak Level Freeway constructing. She mentioned she’s heard from police and the general public that the marketing campaign helps take intoxicated motorists off the highway.

“The very fact is a few folks could also be nervous about calling 9-1-1, considering it’s not an emergency when it’s impaired driving, however it’s really against the law in progress, and they need to be making that telephone name,” she mentioned.

In response to Statistics Canada, impaired driving is the main explanation for prison dying within the nation. Since Jan. 1, 2022, Manitoba RCMP have issued 538 prison impaired driving prices.

Regan says there’s been a current spike in impaired driving, which she attributes to folks going out extra as COVID-19 restrictions have eased. With the vacation season approaching, she encourages folks to take transit, rideshares, or name sober buddies or household as a substitute of getting behind the wheel.

“All these selections exist for us, and there’s no cause to drive impaired,” she mentioned.

For Hansen Pratt, the vacations are a troublesome time.

“Each Christmas, each birthday, each anniversary, each main occasion in our lives is a time when there’s an empty chair,” she mentioned.

She says she continues her work in hopes that no different household should undergo what she has.

“Some days it’s horribly irritating and I simply wish to scream and run away and by no means say this message ever once more,” she mentioned, “however I do know it’s worthwhile.”

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