MADD launches Red Ribbon       

 MADD Antigonish dropped the puck for its annual Project Red Ribbon campaign Sunday night at the Antigonish Arena.
      With a ceremonial face-off conducted by chapter secretary Leah Chisholm at the Antigonish Bulldogs-Strait Pirates Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League game, the organization reminded fans and players to “tie one on” this season.
      Project Red Ribbon works to combat impaired driving during the holidays. In conjunction with the Antigonish Bulldogs, the local MADD group launched its fourth annual campaign.
      As part of Project Red Ribbon, the local MADD chapter will distribute a variety of literature and items that carry the important drinking and driving warnings.
      “People will see our boxes in local businesses over the next few weeks,” Chisholm said.
      In partnership with area businesses, the chapter will remind residents to tie a familiar MADD Canada ribbon to their antenna, side mirror, or other visible location on their vehicle or keychain. The MADD Canada ribbon symbolizes a commitment to drive safely and soberly year round, including during the holiday season.
      Along with the MADD red ribbon boxes scattered in the community, the local chapter plans to deliver its message with a float in the upcoming Christmas parade in Antigonish.
      “We also have a checkpoint planned for December,” Chisholm said.
      Along with Antigonish, the Guysborough MADD chapter launched its Red Ribbon campaign over the weekend. Local RCMP, Emergency Health Services and county fire departments are offering their assistance with the promotion.

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Adam Griffiths and Kyla Neary posted a Mothers Against Drunk Driving sign outside the Antigonish RCMP detachment reminding drivers to stay sober this holiday season. (Connor MacEachern photo)


Mothers Against Drunk Driving is in the midst of its annual Project Red Ribbon Campaign. “It started in the middle of November and runs to the first week of January,” MADD organizer Kyla Neary said. As part of the campaign, MADD volunteers hand out red ribbons signifying a pledge to drive soberly and place donation boxes throughout the community to raise money for the organization. A display outside the Antigonish RCMP, with a MADD sign and wooden crosses, was set up last Thursday. “It’s just to honour the victims of impaired driving and a reminder to drivers to drive safe and sober,” Neary said. Last year, approximately 24 people in Nova Scotia were killed due to impaired driving, she added. With the holiday season approaching, MADD volunteers will be working with Northern Traffic Services and the Antigonish RCMP at roadside sobriety checkpoints. “We’ll have some checkpoints around the county, just sort of business as usual,” Northern Traffic Services Cpl. Phil Reddy said. “It’s a good way to spread the message,” he added. People tend to drink more alcohol this time of year, so RCMP are on the lookout for drinking and driving, Reddy said. Antigonish RCMP Cpl. Rene Bouchard said police will focus their attention on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. “We just ask the members to go out on those nights and set up checkpoints,” he added. “Normally we don’t get too many (drunk drivers) because people – especially on New Year’s Eve – usually have a designated driver,” Bouchard said. Last year’s Project Red Ribbon Campaign raised about $500 for MADD, Neary said. The organization needs more members, she added. The next meeting will take place 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 at the Antigonish RCMP station.

************************************************* Put away the keys Posted on August 17, 2010 in the CASKET Antigonish Local Paper At well more than 100 pages in length, the 2009 report Alcohol, Trauma and Impaired Driving is daunting, but the contents are poignant and deserving of attention. This is especially true as the Antigonish community has seen a rise in impaired driving charges in recent months. The report’s contents are a “compendium of information on alcohol and drug consumption patterns, impaired driving and other related trauma.” Commissioned by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, with help from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, Alcohol, Trauma and Impaired Driving provides statistical information on a range of alcohol and related topics. These include facts on the consumption (who, when and where people are drinking) and the costs of drinking. There is a section on trauma incidents caused by drinking including: drowning, falls, fires, workplace accidents, sports injuries, violence and suicide. Another part of the report examines youth, alcohol and drugs. It also provides information on traffic trauma (pedestrians, bicycles, snowmobiling, ATVs, motorcycles and boats) and impaired driving. This section of the report reveals the impact national and provincial lawmakers, the RCMP, MADD and similar organizations are having on curbing impaired driving. In 1987 there were 2,250 fatally injured drivers in Canada of which 53.1 percent tested positive for alcohol. By 2006 the number of fatalities dropped to 1,738 with 37.1 percent involving alcohol. But when taking in to account improved safety measures in vehicles is the reduction significant enough? Has the battle against impaired driving improved in the 21st century? In 2002, Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) introduced the Road Safety Vision 2010 (RSV 2010) project. The project called for a reduction in the percentage of alcohol-related fatalities based on 1996 and 2001 numbers. So far the results have been disappointing. No province is on track to meet the goals and five have had increased rates. Nova Scotia has only made minimal progress. The project had hoped to decrease the fatalities involving drinking drivers to 18 percent by 2010. In 2005, this percentage stood at nearly 33 percent and rose in 2006. In 1997, one in every 278.6 licensed drivers in Canada was charged with impaired driving. By 2006, the charge rate had fallen to one in every 369 licensed drivers. Rightfully so, the local RCMP has stepped up its enforcement on the issue. This past weekend the RCMP charge five impaired drivers. The five charges bring the August totals to 10 and there have been 50 charges laid since April 1. The RCMPs efforts need to be commended, yet the increase in number of charges should be alarming. It is obvious that more work needs to be done. In the face of alarming statistics and multi-media campaigns designed to educate people about the effects of drinking and driving, people still disregard their and others safety as well as the law. If you are planning to drink consider your options. Pick a designated driver. Take a cab. Walk home. Or stay the night. There is not only individual responsibility but also institutional responsibility. How often are bartenders, family or friends to reluctant to take away the keys of someone who has been drinking or offer rides home? Are current laws stringent enough? It seems like fines, jail time, license suspensions and increased insurance costs are not deterring those who choose to drive after drinking. Why not implement tougher legislation? Why not increase the prosecution of those who knowingly allow someone to drive under the influence? Should the blood alcohol content level be reduced even further? Should police be able to stop people randomly? All of the above have been, and will continue to be, considered but until everyone who takes or offers a drink of alcohol turns over the keys, the problem of impaired driving is not likely to go away. ******************************** No sugar coating this message Posted on June 2, 2009 by Corey LeBlanc coreyleblanc@thecasket.ca Isac MacLean made a deadly decision and it cost Allison MacDonald her life. After drinking, Isac got behind the wheel and slammed into a car Allison and her friends Eddy Hanifen and Megan Chisholm, who sustained serious injuries, were driving on the grounds of Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional High School. Although the crash was staged as part of an annual mock disaster aimed at delivering a message to graduating students about the dangers of driving while impaired, the message was no less powerful. The four student actors were able to walk away from the incident Friday morning, but that often does not happen. In a real tragedy, the lives of everyone involved, their friends, families and the community are changed forever. When Allison MacDonald was zipped up in the body bag, she could hear classmates saying “Oh, my God.” “I think people got the message. “It was really intense, but I think it has to be that way. You have to get the message across,” she added, her face still covered in bright red marker. Allison said people her age often have a sense of invincibility. “This shows how making the decision to drink and drive can impact so many people forever.” Antigonish RCMP A/Cst. John Pellerin, who started the annual presentation a few years ago, said the message needs to be a powerful one. “We can’t sugar coat it,” he said after the presentation. That’s why no part of such a tragedy is avoided, including the funeral home arriving to collect the body of the deceased. “It’s powerful, but that’s what happens,” Pellerin said. Even the shock of such a presentation does not always sink in. He pointed out to the students people still do not listen. “There was a student in Boston who took part in this same sort of exercise on a Wednesday and that Saturday, he struck a mother and daughter in a crosswalk, killing the mother and seriously injuring the child. Mangled cars slammed together, liquor bottles scattered and smashed greeted the students. “Often it is not a flat, smooth surface like this. We have to climb into a ditch or the woods,” Antigonish-based paramedic Paula Delorey said of the scene. Over her voice, sirens start to blare as firefighters and paramedics arrive. “Everyone is assessed,” Pellerin said as emergency personnel checked out the four injured young people. The many tasks involved, including freeing a backseat passenger with the “jaws of life” is meticulous. It does not have the fast-paced speed of television. “This is the way it happens. It does not happen in five minutes like on those shows,” Pellerin said. Over the next few minutes, much happens. The crash victims are prepared for transport to the emergency room, while a worried mother arrives on the scene. Guided by RCMP chaplain Father Danny MacDonald, Carol MacDonald discovers her daughter Allison is dead. Overcome by despair, she falls to ground next to her daughter, who is now covered in a white sheet. “It was emotional. It was certainly shocking to see her under that sheet. “Even though it was not real, it really was shocking,” Carol added. The mother said she hoped using a parent in the presentation helped hammer home the message to the students. “They can see what a parent would go through in that type of situation, how it is such a traumatic and life-changing experience,” she said. Antigonish RCMP community policing officer Cst. Melanie Geoffrion reminded students more than alcohol impairs drivers, noting the effects of marijuana, ecstasy and even prescription drugs. In the case of prescription drugs, doctor’s orders must be followed. “Young people think they are not impaired, but that’s not true,” she said. School principal Arnie Farrell said the message of the mock disaster was a clear one: don’t drink and drive. “Don’t think it cannot happen to you.” Farrell added students should not only heed the advice, but also warn their friends and classmates who may find themselves in a similar situation. “We need to continue to get the message out there,” MADD Antigonish president Sarah Dykstra said. “It not only affects the person who drove, but also everyone involved.” Emergency room physician Dr. Tanya Sullivan pointed out there is no “get out of jail free card” in these types of situations. “It is a sad reality. This is what happens.” Sullivan said the highest cause of death for high school aged students is trauma, not “horrible diseases,” like cancer. “Often, it involves making bad decisions,” she added, noting 75 percent of the traumas are caused by car accidents. Sullivan said one key benefit for emergency room personnel is the highly trained paramedics who do a great deal in the field to help victims. Even for the survivors of a crash, Sullivan said there are “multiple ramifications.” They often face permanent disabilities, chronic pain or other long-term medical issues – both physical and mental. To illustrate, the ER doctor asked student volunteer Kyle Matthews to don a blindfold and oven mitts. Those items created physical impairments, loss of sight and problems using his hands. “It makes everything a challenge, even something we take for granted such as eating,” Sullivan said, as Kyle struggled to eat a package of yogurt. Delivering the safe driving message was a team effort, including contributions from the Antigonish RCMP, Antigonish EHS, town and county volunteer fire department members, Beech Hill Auto, One Stop Entertainment, MADD Antigonish, MacIsaac’s Funeral Home, along with Dr. John Hugh Gillis students and staff members. Eddy and Megan, still wearing the scars from the crash, hoped the classmates got the message. “It felt so much like real life. I think people really paid attention,” Eddy said. Megan said people do not get up and walk away. “It can have such an effect on so many people. They need to get the message not to drink and drive.”