The province of Saskatchewan tries innovative ways to get drivers to give up their car keys if they have been drinking. (iStock)

Province tackles drunk driving with ‘positive’ tickets

In a new initiative to reduce impaired driving, the province of Saskatchewan will have police give positive tickets to sober drivers or those who have been designated by friends to stay sober in order to drive others home.  If such drivers speak about their positive tickets on social media using the hashtag #Care About Impaired, they could win one of 25 gift cards worth $150 credit.

Saskatchewan had the highest rate of impaired driving in 2015. Government statistics show it had 575 impaired driving incidents per 100,000 people. (iStock)

‘A critical problem’

The project will run for the month of August and is one of five projects to try to stem what the provincial government calls “a critical problem facing our province.” CBC reports that a total of 57 people were killed in Saskatchewan in 2016 in collisions involving alcohol, up from the 54 killed in 2015. Saskatchewan has the biggest problem of this kind in Canada. In 2016, almost half of all fatal traffic collisions in that western province involved alcohol.

In another project, bar patrons will be asked if they would like to contribute a small amount of money toward a fund for a designated driving service. Contributions would be matched by the government and the service. Data would be collected to assess whether this would increase the chances that patrons would plan ahead for a safe ride home.

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