Youth need warnings on dangers of impaired driving: MADD

Road crashes are one of the leading causes of death among youth, and half of those incidents involve either drugs or alcohol. That's according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who are visiting 25 schools across the province to warn students about the dangers of impaired driving. Well, I think now, especially where we're all getting our license and the general party culture associated with college and high school and stuff, I think it's important that we know the risks and the true impact of drunk driving. It actually comes up more often than you might think. There have been people we know that have been killed in drunk driving accidents, and we just know how big of an issue it is. The presentation includes dramatized scenarios and real testimony from the families of victims of impaired driving. It's different hearing about it from someone who's gone through that. That was very emotional for me, and it was very moving, And it really drove home that message that they were trying to tell us throughout the rest of the presentation. Yeah, it's a lot different hearing it from people that have had the experience. You know, I can say it as much as I want, like, that it's terrible, but I've never had that feeling of actually going through it. So hearing it from people like that, you know, it makes a big difference. Maxime Ruanga visits hundreds of schools a year to bring light to this issue. It's something that hits close to home for him. Impaired driving is something that I've seen affect a lot of people in my life. especially growing up I was in a really big crash myself when I was a kid luckily I survived but I did have broken bones and it was a it was a big recovery process so keeping the road safe is important to me drugs and alcohol are prevalent they've been around for a long time impaired crashes are a thing so having this conversation makes all of the difference I think the reason why it's not being had is because people are doing it so if we can normalize hey this is not safe to drive after you do drugs or alcohol, then people won't do it. Grade 12 student Charlotte Philpott gave this advice. There are many other ways that you can find a way home. Taxi, Uber, calling a friend or a family member. There is no situation where you will need to drive impaired. John Harris, CBC News, St. John's.