Trucking company fights impaired driving with photos of victims on vehicles

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This article was published 17/10/2022 (800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A trucking and logistics company is memorializing a Manitoba victim of impaired driving in its latest iteration of a long-running road-safety campaign.

Beryl Hansen, a recently retired, married 59-year-old mother of three, was struck and killed by an impaired driver while out on a walk in Portage la Prairie on the morning of April 20, 1999.

Now, in memory of Hansen, KAG Canada has outfitted 20 of its truck-trailers with decals featuring her photo and a message encouraging drivers to call 911 to report others behind the wheel they suspect are impaired.

The firm, which works in the bulk transportation industry, first partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada 10 years ago to raise awareness and memorialize impaired-driving victims.

“The loss of my mom in this horrific and senseless way shattered our hearts and changed our lives forever,” Tanya Hansen Pratt, vice-president of MADD’s Winnipeg chapter and the victim’s daughter, said in a statement.

“I think she would be proud to know that we are working, in loving memory of her, to help prevent this tragedy from happening to others.”

Several other impaired-driving victims from across Canada are memorialized on 260 of the firm’s truck-trailers.

KAG Canada said its vehicles regularly travel throughout the country and are seen by thousands of motorists daily.

Meantime, impaired-driving arrests are down in rural Manitoba, RCMP numbers provided to the Free Press show.

In 2020, Mounties laid 902 alcohol and drug impaired-driving charges, including five counts of impaired driving causing death. In 2021, the number dropped to 863, but included six impaired driving causing death charges.

This year to date, RCMP have laid 538 charges, including three counts of impaired driving causing death.

To Oct. 17 in 2021 and 2020, Mounties had laid 714 and 753 alcohol- and drug-related impaired driving charges, respectively.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera