Don't drive drunk, or I may pick you up: funeral director
With the number of impaired drivers being reported in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on the rise, the town's funeral director says he wants people to find alternate rides home — because he doesn't want to be called to get them.
The RCMP in Labrador says a jump in the number of impaired driving arrests may be due to the influx of contract workers at the Muskrat Falls site.
For funeral director Shawn Crann, who is also the president of the Labrador chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), it doesn't matter who's responsible.
"We also have a lot of new people in our area with the development of Muskrat Falls, there's a lot of contractors in town and of course they want to let loose sometimes," he said.
"I'm not putting all the blame on the contractors, but unfortunately sometimes they drink a little more than they think they drink and as a result they're impaired and probably don't even realize it."
Crann said his ideal solution to curbing the number of impaired drivers would be harsher sentences.
He thinks anyone caught and convicted of driving while impaired should have to forfeit their vehicle.
"My job is a funeral director and every year I'm going to have two, maybe three people that will lose their lives because of impaired driving, and it's not only them — it's the carnage left behind," he said.
"You've got families, you've got innocent people getting killed that have got to come see me, and when you've got to come in here to pick out a casket for a loved one because somebody decided they were going to drink and drive — it should never be."
Role to play
The RCMP reported the number of impaired driving arrests were up 40 per cent in 2014 over the year before.
"They are coming out Saturdays, they are getting drunk. We don't necessarily catch them driving away, but the next day there aren't as many company trucks here as there were the night before. So you sort of put two and two together and figure that could be part of the increase," she said.
Jennings-Brown said people working at bars have a role to play, too.
"I feel, as a bartender, it is my responsibility to — if I feel someone's been drinking too much, cut them off," said Jennings-Brown.
"If I know they're going to work or driving, for example, once I see them getting kind of tipsy I ask, 'Are you driving?' and if they say no well then obviously I'm going to serve them, but I'll be watching to make sure they aren't driving."
The RCMP and town officials are reminding people to have a ride home arranged if you're planning to go out, rather than risk driving while impaired.