A wonderful conversation with long-time volunteer, Anne Leonard, revealed the history of the Arrive Alive Drive Sober program that has been operating for over 30 years.
With tonnes of resources to promote sober driving that they share with other provinces, Leonard explained that this program started out as an Ontario only entity but they have shared things as requested to do so. They produced a road safety education video and even an Arrive Alive app that they have worked with other provinces to share and perfect while allowing each organization to do their own thing.
鈥淓very province has different legislation based on government or private insurance or a combination of both as well as their own consequences for impaired driving. Warn ranges are an example of things that can be different provincially, although there is federal legislation that must be followed at a minimum as well. Federally there is a limit of .08 while Ontario is .05 and Saskatchewan is .04.鈥�
Leonard also elaborated on the complicated nature of the legislation on impaired driving.
鈥淭he costs are enormous, and the process is painful. One impaired conviction has your insurance going up by at least $5,000 a year for at least three years.鈥�
She was willing to share some of the history that she was aware of with regard to our province鈥檚 attack on drunk driving,
鈥淪askatchewan has an amazing group called SADD, Students Against Drinking and Driving. They have their own conference every year and they would have many of their members attend a national conference, Canadian Youth Against Impaired Driving (CYAID). We would see all the students in green shirts in attendance and it was just great.鈥�
Leonard explained, 鈥淭here are some people out there who use the 鈥楢rrive Alive鈥� and we are not able to stop them as we have a trademark on 鈥楢rrive Alive Drive Sober鈥� but not just Arrive Alive. Every once in a while, I hear about an Arrive Alive designated driver service, but we need people to know 鈥� that is not us.鈥�
She detailed the difficulty with that happening because of how closely they work with the public health units, a lot of the police services and especially the Ontario Provincial Police. Once you are out of Ontario, that is not the case at all.
As of last month, Leonard is now the past-president of Arrive Alive Drive Sober but will continue to volunteer. With her personal experiences with people being injured or killed at the hands of a drunk driver, she is passionate to stay on as a volunteer.
