Throughout the month-long campaign, volunteers drove home 864 Tri-Cities residents, including providing 169 rides on New Year's Eve.
Photograph by: Submitted , for North Shore News
There might be no better proof than the success of this year's Operation Red Nose campaign that Tri-Cities drivers are getting the message about not drinking and driving.
Throughout the month-long campaign, volunteers drove home 864 Tri-Cities residents, including providing 169 rides on New Year's Eve.
In fact, the local Red Nose effort in 2012 pretty much blew away every stat from previous years.
Beyond the 864 rides, Red Nose raised $27,296 for KidSport Tri-Cities, traversed the three municipalities for more than 25,000 kilometres and attracted 269 volunteers.
That's compared to 2011, which was also a record-breaking year, where the operation provided 554 rides, raised $17,162, drove just shy of 15,000 kilometres and had 139 volunteers. When the operation began in 2007, just 107 rides were provided and $2,334 was raised.
KidSport Tri-Cities chair Chris Wilson offered a couple of reasons for the growing popularity of Red Nose. He believes drivers are getting the message there is no reason to drink and drive, especially with tough provincial laws.
"When there is a program like this - when you can get you and your car home safely and all the money goes to charity - you have to be kind of foolish not to use it," Wilson told The NOW.
He also suggested as the program has developed over the last few years, the non-profit groups operating the service have learned how to better run and promote it.
Wilson said the challenge this year was dealing with the growth of the program.
At one point before New Year's Eve festivities, the local operation put out a desperate call for more volunteers to handle the volume.
It was answered, and the evening went off without a hitch, with 99 volunteers pressed into service.
The service also expanded into New Westminster and Burnaby for the first time.
Wilson said he expects the service to continue to grow in 2013, and potentially expand into Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Coquitlam RCMP are still compiling final numbers from their annual CounterAttack program.
But results from the first few weeks showed a decline in the number of people getting caught behind the wheel after having too much to drink.
Mounties handed out just six impaired driving prohibitions and another three 24hour roadside suspensions and one three-day roadside prohibition.
