Operation Red Nose is a confidential designated-driving service. A team of road volunteers picks you up and drives you home safely in your own vehicle – anywhere in the City of Prince George, for anyone who does not feel fit to drive, providing the vehicle is licensed and insured in BC.
Rotary Club of Prince George – Nechako
The Rotary Club of Prince George – Nechako is the local host organization for Operation Red Nose. Dedicated to community service, our members work to address the needs of our community, with a particular emphasis on youth and seniors.
Donations and sponsorships raised during Operation Red Nose go directly to youth programs and amateur sport. Over the years that funding has supported a long list of local organizations, including:
- Pathfinders
- Scouts
- Hart Highlands Winter Club – Ski School
- FBC Youth Group – ski program
- Engage Sport North – Try It events
- Youth Around Prince George
- YMCA
- PARTY Program – Prevent Alcohol & Risk-Related Trauma in Youth
- Harwin Elementary School swim program
- Kelly Road girls’ basketball
- Rotaract
- PG Midget Knights basketball
- AiMHi Children’s Lifestyle Program
- Boys’ and girls’ PGYSA soccer teams
- PG Blizzard Speed Skating Club
- RCMP Victim Services for Youth
- Rotary Youth Exchange Program
- DARE Program
- Raise A Reader
- Canadian Ski Patrol – Youth Safe Ski Program
- Rotary dictionaries for local elementary school students
- PG Youth Soccer
- PG Spruce Kings hockey
- PG Safe Attitudes & Action Society
Did you know?
Some background on Operation Red Nose, and a few sobering numbers from various sources.
About Operation Red Nose
- Operation Red Nose was founded in Quebec in 1984 by Dr. Jean-Marie De Koninck and first ran under the leadership of Laval University’s Rouge et Or swim team, with the support of radio station CHRC and the Quebec City police.
- It now operates in several countries, including Canada, the United States, Switzerland and Portugal.
- The name was originally that of a Canadian military operation. It was chosen for the “red noses” volunteers get out in the cold on those long winter nights.
Impaired driving
- Around 8% of Canadians drink and drive.
- Approximately 64,000 people are injured each year in alcohol- and drug-related crashes in Canada.
- Alcohol is the major cause of 13% of fatal crashes, and a contributor (alongside other substances) to 28% of all car crash fatalities.
- At least 2,200 people die in car crashes in Canada each year; 55% of those deaths involve impaired driving.
- 7.5 million Canadians have a family member or close friend who has been the victim of a drinking-and-driving collision, and 5.4 million know someone who caused one.
- 80% of people who drink and drive are with friends or family when they do so.
- Most alcohol-related crashes (57%) happen on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and 39% between 9 pm and 3 am.
- In BC, an average of 65 people are killed every year in crashes involving drinking and driving. Drivers aged 19 to 35 account for 47% of impaired drivers in crashes, and men for 69%.
- BC has the toughest drinking-and-driving laws in Canada. If you drink and drive you can count on penalties – and time off the road.
- 0.08 blood alcohol content is the limit for criminal charges in Canada. The minimum fine for driving at 0.08 is $1,000; 0.16 or higher brings a $2,000 fine, and prison time for repeat offenders.
- The consequences reach far beyond the death toll: injuries, medical costs, fines, imprisonment and lost employment affect individuals and families for years.
