New license folders remind drivers to "Drive safe, Drive Sober"

WHITEHORSE – The members of the Impaired Driving Prevention Coalition are offering free vinyl holders for driver licenses, imprinted with the bilingual message to “Drive Safe, Drive Sober” – “Conduisez en sécurité sans alcool.” The Yukon Liquor Corporation and the departments of Community Services and Highways & Public Works have teamed up with MADD Whitehorse and the local RCMP to remind drivers not to drink and drive.

“Drinking and driving tragedies can be avoided,” Jim Kenyon, minister responsible for the Yukon Liquor Corp., said. “It is crucial to keep reminding drivers that they are not immune to the effects of drugs or alcohol when they drive – that their decision to get behind the wheel could cost a life.”

“The Whitehorse chapter of MADD wholeheartedly supports this joint effort to get our message out,” MADD Whitehorse President Alvin Pederson said. “We hope that the message portrayed on these license holders will help reduce the incidents of impaired driving. We will continue to collaborate with our partners to meet this goal.”

Preliminary statistics for the Yukon indicate that in 2005, three people died and 12 others were seriously injured due to impaired driving.

“Impaired driving remains the leading criminal cause of death in Canada; yet it is a completely preventable crime,” RCMP Traffic Services Constable Wayne Gork said. “Impaired driving kills. There is a major impact on not only the immediate victims, but also on the families and loved ones who are left behind after the tragedy. We want to remind all drivers not to drink and drive.”

The Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, the national organization for motor vehicle transportation and road safety, aims for a 40 per cent decrease in the number of fatalities and serious injuries in accidents involving drinking drivers by 2010.

“Achieving this vision requires active buy-in from drivers,” Community Services and Highways & Public Works Minister Glenn Hart said. “Yukon’s new drivers license folders act as a reminder.”

The folders are free, and are available at Community Services’ Motor Vehicles office in Whitehorse, and in rural communities at the Yukon Liquor Corporation Territorial Agent and Yukon Housing Corporation Territorial Representative offices.

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Contact:
Peter Carr
Cabinet Communications Advisor
(867) 667-8688
peter.carr@gov.yk.ca

Doug Caldwell
Communications, Yukon Liquor Corporation
(867) 667-8065
doug.caldwell@gov.yk.ca