‘Plan ahead’: MADD Canada hopes to prevent tragedies on roads this holiday season

Crystal Garrett speaks with MADD Canada about Project Red Ribbon, its annual awareness campaign to promote sober driving during the holidays.

Road crashes are a leading cause of death among Canadian youth, and impairment is involved in more than half of those crashes, according to MADD Canada.

To prevent tragedies on the roads year-round, the charitable organization is holding its annual Project Red Ribbon campaign.

MADD Canada’s CEO says it hopes to raise awareness about the risks of impaired driving, especially before the holiday season.

“There’s a lot more celebrations going on, people are going out with their fellow staff members, their friends and celebrating, which is wonderful, but we want to make sure that people have a safe ride home,” says Steve Sullivan.

“Plan ahead, whether that’s public transportation, a sober friend, Uber, whatever that looks like, taxi. If you plan ahead you don’t have to worry about it, you can just have fun with your friends and colleagues.”

Sullivan says it’s hard to tell what the current impaired driving statistics are because it often depends on the activity of local law enforcement.

“For example, in some jurisdictions, we see the rates increasing because police are more proactive, they’re out there more using tools like mandatory alcohol screening, they’re catching more drug-impaired drivers because they’re better trained. But in other jurisdictions, I know like in Halifax for example, you’re seeing some high numbers of road fatalities, and consequently they’re also seeing lower tickets being issued and fines,” he says.

Regardless, Sullivan says there’s too many people still making the choice to drive impaired, especially young people.

“They’re new drivers, they’re also new to alcohol or cannabis consumption, so those two combinations are really not great. So we see the rates of impaired driving fatalities for young people way too high. There have been reductions, many provinces have brought in zero tolerance for new and novice drivers, so those are really important things. But this is a group that we want to make sure understands the risks,” he says.

Sullivan adds MADD Canada also understands the pressures young people face to drink.

“We want to give them tools, we want to educate them, give them options about making the right choices and how that can impact your life down the road. Hopefully that’s not a tragedy, but even if you get arrested and charged with impaired driving as a young person that can impact your future plans,” he said.

The Project Red Ribbon campaign wraps up on Jan. 5, 2026.