In the News

Campaign targets drunk driving
CTV Calgary
October 8, 2009

MADD launched a new drunk driving initiative in Calgary on Thursday to encourage citizens to turn in suspected drunk drivers.

Campaign 911 - Report Impaired Drivers works by encouraging Canadians to pull over and call 911 if they spot a suspected drunk driver.

Permanent road signs will be installed throughout the city and ads are already on Calgary Transit buses to promote the initiative.

Campaign 911 will distribute education material to various agencies and say the involvement of the Calgary Police Service is critical to the success of the program.

Calgary Police Chief, Rick Hanson, says that the more people out there reporting crime the better and that getting information back to their officers on the street is the key.

"With everybody being the eyes and the ears, if we can get the information from the citizens quick enough and get it back out to our guys quick enough, we can have the response we'd like to see," said Chief Hanson.

The Chief also said that calling 911 during busy times to report a suspect will not be a problem. "The information is going to be followed up on, at worst, we're gonna have a licence number, a description of the vehicle that we can act on so I'm confident we'll be able to follow up in those instances."

MADD says the campaign gives Canadians the opportunity to play a role in their own safety by assisting the police in intervening before a potentially deadly crash occurs.

Impaired driving is the number one criminal cause of death in Canada and approximately 77,000 Canadians are victimized by impaired drivers annually.

There have been 18 fatal collisions in Calgary this year, 4 of them involving alcohol, and so far Calgary police have laid 2116 impaired driving charges.

For more information on this initiative visit the MADD Canada Website.