December is a month which includes holiday parties and ends with New Years Eve, so police and SGI are shining the light on impaired driving for this month’s Traffic Safety Spotlight. SGI spokesperson Tyler McMurchy says over the next month they will be highlighting messages from community leaders, athletes, and entertainers, asking them why they always plan a safe ride home. Last year, between December 1st and January 3rd, three Saskatchewan people were killed and 44 were injured in impaired driving-related accident. McMurchy emphasizes that impaired driving deaths and injuries are preventable.

Some options are arranging a designated driver for your group, or volunteer to be the designated driver, take a cab, a rideshare, or designated driving service that brings you and you or vehicle home, use public transit, or stay the night.

Staff Sergeant Patrick Barbar of the Saskatoon Police Service says, “It’s important to me to always plan a safe ride home because I’ve seen firsthand the impact of impaired driving on those left behind. I’ve walked up to a home and told a family that someone they loved has died, more often than I care to remember. I wish that no one will ever have to deliver that news again. Please do whatever it takes to not drive impaired.”