Image: Operation Red Nose / Abbotsford police chief Colin Watson makes an address during the launch of the 2024 Operation Red Nose campaign on Nov. 13, which uses volunteers to provide safe rides to numerous motorists during the holiday season.

By Don Mitchell

safe ride service

City banking on Operation Red Nose to slow ‘concerning’ numbers of impaired drivers removed from Abbotsford roads

Nov 16, 2024 | 2:58 PM

ABBOTSFORD – Following a long weekend in which a ‘highly concerning’ 19 impaired drivers were removed from Abbotsford roads, city officials are hoping an upcoming legacy safe ride service will slow that pace.

The bulk of the impaired drivers taken off the road during the Remembrance Day weekend happened last Friday night, with 11 picked up across the city’s roughly 900 kilometres of asphalt.

Abbotsford police say numbers were half as bad this Friday, with just 6 alcohol-related drivers and a single drug-impaired operator dealt with.

So far, the city has roughly 650 impaired cases with a month and a half left in 2024.

There is hope the total will be lower than the 842 drivers removed through all of 2023, based on the current rate drivers are being stopped.

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Enter Operation Red Nose, a program hosted by the Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy Association (ARJAA), that transports impaired drivers and their vehicles home using volunteer designated drivers.

During the 2024 campaign launch Wednesday, Abbotsford mayor Ross Siemens pleaded with drivers on the road during the holidays to keep streets safe by reaching out to “the generous individuals” who will answer the call.

“Sometimes it can be difficult to admit that you need help or that you’re in no condition to drive,” Siemens said.

“But by taking a ride with Operation Red Nose, you’re avoiding putting yourself and others’ lives in danger.”

Rides are requested through the program’s website or app, alerting volunteers who respond in teams of three to take drivers home in their own cars.

Abby police chief Colin Watson is also putting stock in the program, which will back up frontline officers conducting field sobriety testing over the next six weeks.

On Friday, twelve Abbotsford police officers completed sobriety testing courses in preparation of inevitable stops they’ll make during the holidays.

“It takes a community to come together to prevent impaired driving, to prevent traffic collisions on our roadways,” Watson insisted.

“Working together with ARJAA and other community partners on road safety initiatives is how we move the needle and try to make continuous improvements in the safety of our roads.”

Operation Red Nose, which began in Quebec during the mid-1980s, will start its 29th annual campaign across B.C. on Nov. 29 and run through Dec. 31.

Since 1996, over 100,000 rides have been provided by volunteers in B.C.