County council approves new MADD 911 program
Simcoe County Council has approved a program that will encourage local residents to use the 911 emergency phone system to report impaired drivers.

County councillors recently voted to enter into a partnership 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.

Statistics from MADD Canada suggest that impaired driving is the number one criminal cause of death in Canada. In Canada, four people are killed and approximately 190 people are injured each and every day from 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 cell phones to call 911 to report suspected impaired drivers.

All six police services throughout the county, the separated cities of Barrie and Orillia, Mnjikaning First Nation and Anishinabek First Nation have cited their support for this program, in an effort to level another tool in the fight against impaired driving. These include the Ontario Provincial Police, Barrie Police Service, South Simcoe Police Service, Midland Police Service, Mnjikaning Police Service and Anishinabek Police Service. The program was first introduced in York Region and the York Region Chapter of MADD in June 2007. The campaign 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.

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