Students at the Gordon F. Kells High School have taken up the fight against impaired driving.
The school has a Students Against Drinking and Driving (SADD) group whose mandate is to educate and raise awareness in the schools of the ramifications of impaired driving.
Linda Briggs detailed their activities in previous years that they have been unable to do since the COVID shutdown last March.
Fundraising, participating in various SGI campaigns, mock crash events and speakers to the school have all been put on hold, but Briggs explained some of the positive outcomes they have had in raising awareness over the years.
鈥淲e rely on many community volunteers for the day of and the days leading up to a mock crash event. We have had cars donated, the students volunteer to act as accident victims and the drunk driver, and we stage the entire scene. EMS workers, volunteer firefighters and RCMP are all on board to go through the entire process with us. We run through the halls to announce the accident and everyone meets outside to watch the professionals go through step by step what would happen at an actual accident scene,鈥� Briggs recounted. 鈥淚t is an extremely powerful experience.鈥�
Briggs also described some of the speakers they have had come share with the students, staff and community that have attended these events. All speakers have been involved in the destruction as a result of impaired driving in one way or another.
From a young man whose brother died after being hit by a drunk driver, and a couple who lost their daughter in a collision, right up to a gentleman from the United States who was an impaired driver and is now a paraplegic, they have heard it all.
Pictures from past mock crashes were provided by Linda as a visual reminder of the far-reaching impact of impaired driving accidents.
Legislation in Saskatchewan dishes out stiff penalties to anyone considering drinking and driving to deter this insane action. An immediate roadside suspension, vehicle impoundment, impaired driving education and mandatory ignition interlock are all implemented at the impaired driver鈥檚 expense, and they cost thousands of dollars in the long run.
What cannot be measured in dollars and cents is the pain, suffering and loss that an impaired driver can inflict on human lives.
Corporal James Barnett of the Carlyle RCMP detachment explained how they continue to deal with impaired driving as they always would. During various holidays, such as at Christmas and New Year鈥檚 Eve, there is a traffic division which sometimes uses members from Estevan and Weyburn to aid the local RCMP to provide extra services.
As with every RCMP call, local RCMP are mandated to deal with impaired driving as is has been legislated for them to do so.
鈥淚t will be no different this year,鈥� Barnett explained.
He also referred to an Estevan Mercury article from Nov. 25 where an Estevan woman received a national award for her efforts to education and raise awareness about impaired drivers.
With all this being said, the reality that drinking and driving kills is still the bottom line. Don鈥檛 do it. Don鈥檛 let a friend or family member do it. The cost is too high, and the effects are too tragic.
Please don鈥檛 drink and drive.
