Fort Frances OPP, in partnership with the district Substance Abuse Prevention team, the Northwestern Health Unit, and the Town of Fort Frances, is reinforcing its stance on impaired driving with new signs urging people to report drunk drivers.
Mayor Glenn Witherspoon agreed Friday to have the two signs, which read “Report an Impaired Driver,” along with the phone numbers for the OPP Communications Centre (1-888-310-1122) or *677, to be posted as soon as possible near the water treatment plant in the east end and on Colonization Road West.
“This is great. The more awareness we can get, the better,” noted Mayor Witherspoon.
“We definitely want to increase awareness,” said SAP co-ordinator Kelly Olson. “We want people to take the initiative themselves in promoting safety on the road, and to think twice about drinking and driving.
“The signs help make it a little easier for people to remember and make use of these phone numbers if they have to,” she added.
Fort Frances OPP Cst. Cameron Howard, who spearheaded the initiative, said the signs send a clear message.
“We wanted to get them out before the tourist season. Being a border town, we wanted to point out this is Canada, and that we take impaired driving seriously,” he said.
A maple leaf is prominent on the upper right corner of the signs.
He added the *OPP (*677) number should be easy to remember for motorists who may have cell phones.
“I actually went out and used a cell phone to try it and it works–you’ll get a hold of the Comm Centre,” Cst. Howard said.
While police are always on the lookout for impaired drivers, Cst. Al MacDonald hoped this will work as a further measure to catch–and deter–offenders.
“It will be interesting to track this in the fall to see how effective it is,” he remarked.
Cst. Howard noted he’s working with Olson on getting more signs to post further west in the district, including Emo and Rainy River.
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