Elysia Townsend of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) Canada spoke Wednesday to students at F.P. Walshe school.
F.P. Walshe school students received a sobering message Wednesday about impaired driving.
Students were urged never to drive while impaired, or to ride in a vehicle with an impaired driver.
“Every single one of you here today has the power to say no, and to put your safety first,” said Elysia Townsend of MADD Canada.
The mission of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) Canada is to stop impaired driving and support victims.
In the early 1980s groups began to form across Canada to speak out against impaired driving.
Those groups were founded by victims and survivors who wanted to educate the Canadian public about the tragedies caused by impaired driving.
Discussions were initiated with the U.S.-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization and in 1989 MADD Canada was established to create a national network of survivors and victims to speak out against impaired driving.
In Canada, impaired driving remains the leading criminal cause of death.
In one of about 300 presentations that Townsend will make this year in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan, showed the Grade 9-12 students heart-wrenching videos.
One was a drama that detailed a young woman, about to graduate high school and head to university.
The young woman talked about her anticipation of going to university and starting the next phase of her life.
Those plans ended when she made the decision to ride to the school’s formal dance with friends who were consuming alcohol and cannabis.
The young woman was killed in a crash, and the video detailed the impact of her death on her brother and best friend.
Students also viewed videos that had interviews with real-life survivors whose loved ones were killed by impaired drivers.
In one video, a woman who lost her husband and daughter in a crash with a 19-year-old driver who was impaired, described the loss.
“I wish I could see them one more time and say goodbye,” said the woman, who was injured in the same crash. “Life is so empty.”
Another mother talked about the loss of her daughter, who was killed in a crash in a vehicle driven by an impaired driver.
The mother talked about the sense of panic that came over her at the funeral when they closed the coffin lid.
“They took her away and I never saw her again,” she said.
Townsend offered the F.P. Walshe students four simple rules:
- Never drive a vehicle when you are impaired.
- Never get in a vehicle with someone who is impaired by alcohol or drugs.
- When you are going out for the evening, make plans for a safe ride home.
- Call 911 when you know or suspect someone is driving a vehicle while impaired.
“If we can do those four things, together we can stop impaired driving,” Townsend said.
