MADD to raise awareness on impaired driving in April

Mothers Against Drunk Driving is ready to ramp things up for the month of April.

The non-profit organization has designated April as Impaired Driver Awareness Month as they hope reinforce the message not to drink and drive as the summer approaches.

There's a check stop planned with the Estevan Police Service on April 1. One driver will get a golden ticket, which is a positive ticket, that will include a surprise reward.

The awareness campaign is a Canada-wide initiative.

"If anybody has ever been impacted by an impaired driver, whether there was loss of life or an injury, then that's the impact," said Connie Hagel with MADD Canada. "As an impaired driver, if you get into a collision, it was never an accident because you always made that choice to get in the vehicle impaired. So it was not an accident...it's not like you hit a deer or something like that."

Hagel herself has not been personally impacted by impaired driving. She got involved with MADD as a community leader because she felt there was a need in the south east.

"I have children, I have grand children, and I want to see them around for quite a while and I don't want anything bad to happen. And the community members should be thinking of that too because it's not only you that it impacts, it impacts everyone, it impacts the whole community," she said.

Hagel said it's also a timely campaign with the season's changing.

"The camping season's coming, the boating season, and it's not only driving impaired on the streets, it's driving impaired on the waterways as well," Hagel said.

Hagel added that MADD will be pushing for more awareness in other months through out the year, including having a smashed car in Estevan in June.