MADD, police team up for annual Memorial RIDE program

The recent fatal hit and run of Richard Garson Carmichael by an alleged drunk driver brings home the message to not drink and drive by showing tragedy can happen to anyone, said the president of MADD Thunder Bay.

“Why wait until it happens to a member of your family,” said Carole Sawchuk, the president of the Thunder Bay chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

On Thursday afternoon local law enforcement – including the OPP, Thunder Bay Police Service, Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, RCMP and Canada Border Services – teamed up with MADD to hold the annual Memorial RIDE program on James Street.

Participants also laid carnations near the roadside in memory of people who have lost their lives because of drunk driving.
 
Sawchuk said the purpose of the memorial is to drive home the idea to not get behind the wheel after drinking any alcohol.

“You could harm yourself. You could harm friends, family and it’s not a good idea,” she said. “We’re trying to preserve lives, not destroy them.”

Including the death of Carmichael, there have been four accidents involving alcohol that ended in tragedy in the past nine years in the Thunder Bay area and OPP traffic staff Sgt. Ken Mantey said that’s too many.

“We don’t want to have any more victims of drinking and driving,” he said. “It’s 100 per cent preventable and that’s why (this memorial) is important.”

So far this holiday season, the OPP has laid two charges through their RIDE checks, which is down from last year, but there is still more than a week left in the Christmas season.
 
Mantey said RIDE checks could be at any place and at any time.

“We try to focus on higher volume areas of traffic but sometimes we’ll be in a lower volume area where maybe people don’t expect us to be,” he said.