Cautious optimism over drop in impaired driving deaths

The number of deaths caused by impaired driving in Saskatchewan dropped to a historic low in 2017, according to Saskatchewan Government Insurance.

The newest statistics from SGI show 39 people died in impaired driving collisions in the province last year. Five were attributed to drug impairment and 34 to alcohol impairment — a significant drop from the 57 fatalities involving alcohol in 2016.

The number of injuries caused by impaired driving was also down — 340 in 2017 compared to 464 in 2016, according to the data.

Joe Hargrave, the minister responsible for SGI, said at a Thursday news conference in Saskatoon that the reduced number of deaths could be a “long overdue” signal of change in a province with a historically poor impaired driving record.

“It is just one year, so we cannot call this a trend yet,” he said. “But it has us cautiously, and I mean very cautiously, optimistic.”

The number of deaths related to impaired driving is the lowest it’s been in Saskatchewan since SGI began tracking those statistics in 1988, according to MADD Canada’s national president, Patricia Hynes-Coates.

Change can be difficult for people, but bringing the stories of families hurt by drunk driving to the public could help foster understanding of the issue, she said.

“I would love to have a day where I didn’t have to come meet a new family who had to bury their son, or go visit a grave with a grandfather because that’s all he had left of his child,” Hynes-Coates said.

“People need to realize they’re not immune.”

The small audience at the news conference was made up almost entirely of the families of victims of drunk driving. Lou Van de Vorst lost his son, daughter-in-law, and their two children in a 2016 crash. For him, this is the beginning of more culture change that has to happen in Saskatchewan, he said.

“I hope that we continue to ... get better. One is too many. So we’ve just got to keep driving that number down.”

When Hargrave played an ad from SGI’s recent People Shouldn’t Disappear campaign against impaired driving, families reacted emotionally to the images of their loved ones.

Josephine and Leo Ledoux lost their daughter, Brandi Lepine, in a drunk driving crash in 2013 in Prince Albert. Lepine was pregnant at the time, and her daughter Aurora Ledoux was saved through an emergency C-section, though she suffered head trauma in the crash.

The family took Aurora off life support earlier this year, following years of health troubles brought on by the crash.

They echoed Van de Vorst’s sentiments that Thursday’s announcement was a step in the right direction, but also said their feelings of loss do not stop.

“When I saw my daughter on that slide show, all I could think about was her, and the pain and suffering that she went through ... right now, it’s still an emotional time for my husband and I,” Josephine Ledoux said through tears.

For now, both Ledouxs said they are “very happy” about the new data.

“It’s really impressive that the real people’s stories have finally touched people and finally made them understand,” Josephine Ledoux said.