We certainly hope that on the local front, Bow Valley citizens have received the don’t drink and drive message loud and clear.
The holiday season, including Christmas and New Year’s, is typically associated with the partaking of alcoholic beverages, but unless you’ve been living in a cave for years now, everyone is aware that driving yourself afterward is bad news.
Not everyone is clear on this, of course. On Dec. 5 (page 23), police stopped in excess of 20,000 vehicles during CheckStops province-wide and pulled 166 drivers off our roads due to various manners of impairment.
Perhaps not surprisingly, a recent study has shown that driving while texting is now the leading killer of U.S. teens behind the wheel, but that’s a comment for another time.
Right now is the holiday season and we’d like to remind everyone that in Banff and Canmore, both small towns, there is no reason to drink and get behind the wheel. For the most part, our towns are small enough to walk home. There is also the Roam bus system, depending on time of day, as well as taxis or friends at the other end of a phone.
Here at the Outlook, we’d much prefer not covering stories of locals killed in alcohol-related road incidents over the holidays.
For everyone’s sake – your own, ours, neighbours, strangers – don’t drink and drive this holiday season. There are so many better ways to get around in the Bow Valley than in a police car, ambulance or hearse.
And keep in mind that throughout the holiday season, police will continue to man CheckStops in our communities.
Also, please keep in mind that when alcohol-related crashes take place, the effects can be far-reaching. Imagine being a police officer or medical professional who has to report to a family that a loved one will never be coming home after a drinking and driving incident. Imagine, if you will, how you’d feel knowing you took someone’s life because you chose to drink and drive instead of making alternative arrangements for getting home.
The trauma of drinking and driving incidents touches the guilty, the innocent, first responders, hospital workers, counselors, friends and family, school or business peers ...
Pull up a chair
We have to chuckle at Parks Canada’s placing of red chairs at chosen locations throughout the national parks system.
Having now shown up in Banff, we have to wonder just how popular taking a seat in a red chair will be when it comes to attracting visitors. No doubt the chairs will show up in selfie photographs, but when a chair situated within the scenery becomes the subject of a photo rather than the scenery itself ...
It’s hard to imagine that a pair of red chairs at Lake Minnewanka, say, could be more of a draw than the majestic lake itself, but then we live here and appreciate the vistas Banff National Park features on their own merit.
Will a red chair at Takkakaw Falls prompt those who otherwise couldn’t be bothered to visit to make the drive? Hard to say. And is a dash to grab a seat in a red chair before moving on to the next one really encouraging a connection with nature?
Hopefully, the Red Chair Experience will be more than one of defacing Parks property or a target for vandals.
