Operation Red Nose cancelled another year, but Thunder Bay police say that's no excuse for impaired driving

St. John Ambulance is putting the breaks on the Operation Red Nose program again this year, in a decision organizers call "heartbreaking."

The organization announced the cancellation of the holiday ride program Thursday, due to a likely shortfall of staff and volunteers, while imploring the public to think twice about getting behind the wheel while impaired.

"I truly believe in the mission of St. John to reduce the number of impaired deaths in our community. There's never any reason to get behind the wheel intoxicated, and that's what the mission of Red Nose was all about," said Brian Edwards, regional fund development and volunteer co-ordinator with St. John Ambulance.

Edwards said he hopes people will do the right thing while Operation Red Nose continues its hiatus, by calling a taxi or another ride program when impaired.

But even with other options available, members of the Thunder Bay Police Service believe people just don't know when to make that call, as impaired driving continues to be a major issue on city roads.

"It's a bit surprising and concerning, and to be honest, I don't know what the answer is. I mean, we've done a number of things … we've, you know, done some fairly significant enforcement and tried some different kinds of campaigns. While we're doing that, it continues to be an issue," said Tom Armstrong, acting sergeant with the Thunder Bay police traffic unit.

Police grapple with high impaired driving rates

Across Ontario, the rate of impaired driving was 110 incidents per 100,000 people last year. In Thunder Bay, Armstrong said, it was 180. The year before was even worse.

"I mean in the current day and age, it's hard for anybody to say that they're not ... aware of [dangers of impaired driving] and they don't have options," he said.

Armstrong points to options like taxi services, ride-share apps like U-Ride, personal transportation services like Drivers Seat, or even just planning ahead with a designated driver. However, Operation Red Nose was one of the only free options offered in the city.

"There's something we can do, and we know we shouldn't be doing it, but people continue to do it for reasons unknown to me. You know, if people would heed that warning, it would obviously make the road far safer for everybody out there," he said.

Armstrong said he's not sure what the impact of the cancellation of Operation Red Nose will be come the holiday season, but Thunder Bay police will continue to crack down on impaired drivers year round.

As for Edwards, he said the increase in impaired driving in the northwest is motivation to get Operation Red Nose back up in running.

The shortfall of staff and volunteers this year was due in part to a large backlog of first-aid courses that needed to be taught before first aid certificates expire, he said.

The program usually requires about 150 volunteers, and Edwards said there was also concern that St. John Ambulance would not have enough volunteers to get the program off the ground after the pandemic forced it into hiatus for the last two years.

"Even with some changes that we discussed about kind of reducing the days of the week that we would offer the safe ride program, it just wasn't feasible. This is one of those programs where if it's not run properly, It's not effective," he said.

Edwards said the hope is to have volunteers take the Operation Red Nose reins moving forward, adding that Thunder Bay is the only organization in the province that runs the program with a paid staff member.

St. John Ambulance hopes to have the program hitting the road again next year.