Folks who use Simcoe County streets, roads and highways can help police clear those routes of impaired driving, as easily as dialing 911 on their cellphones.

County councillors voted on March 25 to partner with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) of Barrie-Simcoe and ‘RIDE 24/7’, a large coalition of community partners to bring Safe Roads...Your Call to Simcoe County.

County communications manager Allan Greenwood lauds what he calls “an awareness campaign that enables residents who suspect people are driving impaired to call.

“It sends the message that drinking and driving is unacceptable in our society.”

Statistics from MADD Canada suggest that impaired driving is the number-one criminal cause of death in Canada. Four people are killed in Canada and approximately 190 people are injured each day in collisions involving impaired drivers.

Safe Roads …Your Call is a road safety initiative designed to enhance road safety through increased detection and apprehension of impaired drivers by encouraging citizens to use their cellphones to call 911 to report suspected impaired drivers.

Already, the program has received the support of all six police services throughout Simcoe County, including local police in Barrie and Orillia, Mnjikaning and Anishinabek First Nations.

The program, first introduced by MADD’s York Region Chapter last June, includes road signs, posters and billboards across the region. Since the program was launched, York Regional Police have received over 1,500 calls from citizens, resulting in 200 arrests.

Greenwood says, “that’s because, in York Region, the report of an impaired driver is given the same priority, the same urgency, as a domestic dispute call.”

The official launch of Safe Roads, Your Call is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, April 22, at 1 p.m., at the Simcoe County Administrative Centre in Midhurst.

Approximately 150 road signs will be posted on county roads. Municipalities have expressed a desire to implement the program on local roads as well.