Smashed car campaign using 'shocking visual' to prevent impaired driving in Sask.
A new Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) campaign aims to prevent getting behind the wheel impaired with smashed cars on the side of high-traffic roads.
The smashed car display was unveiled on Tuesday in Prince Albert. MADD chapters in other cities, such as Regina and Estevan, are also taking part.
The display is currently along Highway 2, just north of the city, but will be moved to two other locations. The last display will end in September.
“It’s a very shocking visual. We consider this like a moving billboard,” said Karen Anthony-Burns from MADD Prince Albert.
Her son, Daniel Carter, was killed after being hit by an impaired driver while crossing the street in 2010.
“We still struggle with the loss 11 years later, and it’s still as impactful as it always was. It’s in our hearts all the time. Our hearts are broken,” she said.
Anthony-Burns said it’s important to plan ahead. If you’re planning on drinking or doing drugs, she said to make sure you have a safe ride home in advance.
“Don’t cause any more tragic consequences,” she said.
“We can choose to do the right thing.”
The campaign is in partnership with SGI, the City of Prince Albert and the police.
Police Chief Jon Bergen said emergency workers get to see the effects of impaired driving first-hand.
“Our emergency responders see this reminder every time they respond to an accident and come across somebody who has been hurt or injured, or even someone who is driving in a way that needs to be corrected through enforcement,” he said.
Like Anthony-Burns, Bergen said driving impaired is a decision putting yourself and others at risk.
“That decision can’t be undone,” said Bergen.
According to SGI, last year, 32 people died as the result of impaired driving in Saskatchewan.
Bergen said Prince Albert police have investigated 36 impaired driving files so far in 2021, and 30 have resulted in charges. In 2020, officers investigated over 100 impaired driving files and 200 Report Impaired Drivers complaints.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors call for action as growing number of Canadians dying from common food preservative
Doctors are among those calling for tighter regulation of sodium nitrite as a growing number of Canadians are dying after intentionally ingesting unsafe quantities of the common food preservative in its pure form.

BREAKING | Well-known Brampton, Ont. real estate agent, media personality savagely attacked outside home
A well-known real estate agent and media personality in Brampton, Ont. has been viciously attacked in broad daylight in his own driveway by three men, two of whom appear to be wielding an axe and a machete.
Police seize handguns, drugs in alleged Ontario, U.S. criminal takedown
Police in Ontario say they have taken down a criminal network they allege trafficked cocaine and fentanyl and smuggled guns into Canada from the U.S.
Trump says he took the Fifth in New York civil investigation
Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination as he testified under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general's long-running civil investigation into his business dealings, the former U.S. president said in a statement.
Two children at centre of Sask. Amber Alert found safe in South Dakota, suspect arrested
The Meade County Sheriff’s Office in South Dakota said it has arrested the man wanted in connection with an Amber Alert in Saskatchewan.
Can the spread of monkeypox be stopped?
Since May, nearly 90 countries have reported more than 31,000 cases of monkeypox. The World Health Organization classified the escalating outbreak of the once-rare disease as an international emergency in July; the U.S. declared it a national emergency last week.
N.S. boosts cash reward for information in boy's shooting death to $250,000
Nova Scotia’s unsolved crimes program is offering its largest reward ever for information in the case of a little boy shot and killed in Dartmouth in December.
Canadian Forces Snowbirds grounded in wake of B.C. crash
The Royal Canadian Air Force has grounded the Snowbirds aerobatic team after one of the aircraft suffered a hard landing last week in northern British Columbia.
Some air passengers take claims to court, seeking compensation for delays, missing bags
With some airlines denying compensation for delayed flights or missing baggage, a few Canadian passengers are taking their claims to court.