Statistics Canada recently reported that there were “72,039 impaired driving incidents in 2015, a rate of 201 incidents per 100,000 population.”
This is the national average.
The worst part of this is that Saskatchewan is more than twice that national average at 575 incidents per 100,000 population.
We are in a category all our own here since the next highest province, Alberta, is almost half our number; 314 incidents per 100,000 population.
It is great to see initatives that address this, especially ones like the recent HCI SADD Red Ribbon Campaign. Unfortunately, they are not working. People are not getting the message about drinking and driving.
Our rate of drinking and driving charges has dropped very little since 1986.
At 37 per cent, Saskatchewan is the province with the least amount of decrease.
Cst. Marc Thibodeau with the Humboldt RCMP sees many repeat offenders and it is disturbing that people do not get it, he says.
I remember speaking with the SADD group about putting on a distracted driving awareness campaign which included death statistics and “killing” students every few minutes as a way to represent those statistics.
Even the SADD group was discouraged about the way their fellow students practically ignored the message.
Even they knew they were not getting through to their fellow students.
What do we have to do to get people to understand the message.
I hear the excuses, too.
“I’m not a bad driver when I am drinking.”
“I won’t get caught.”
“It won’t happen to me.”
Guess what? It will not happen to you, until suddenly it does.
You will not get caught until suddenly you do.
You are not that good at driving, just like you are not that good at dancing when you have been drinking, you just think you are.
You do not become a statistic until suddenly you do.
We look with shame at people who have been the cause of an accident but how many of us can honestly say that they never have drank and drove?
Before we cast the first stone, we should look at our own experiences with drinking and driving.
We should also be the first ones to offer to be the designated driver, call a cab, or take away keys from people who were drinking.
The only way we are going to make these statistics any better is if we start being honest with ourselves.
Being told by the RCMP or by Statistics Canada obviously is not helping but maybe hearing from a friend about how they do not want you to drive will make you change your mind.
