Opération Nez rouge logs 30,000 drives across Canada, most of them in Quebec
Posted January 4, 2024 11:31 am.
Opération Nez rouge experienced good growth for its 40th edition this year, but is still far from the results of the last holiday season before the pandemic.
The results of the 2023 edition, which was held from November 24 to December 31, show more than 30,000 rides carried out by nearly 28,000 volunteers across Canada, the majority of whom were being carried out in Quebec, where there was more than 24,600 rides involving more than 22,600 volunteers.
“For Quebec, this represents a nice increase compared to last year, 19 per cent more rides and 22 per cent more in terms of profits,” rejoices Marilyn Vigneault, director of communications at Opération Nez rouge.
These benefits are the donations collected for youth or amateur sports organizations, because although the escort service is always free, there are few who do not give an amount in return. “To give you an idea, this year in Canada, nearly $800,000 will have been raised through these donations,” underlines Vigneault.
Opération Nez rouge continues to spread, slowly but surely, across the country. Present in seven provinces, the most important points being Manitoba, with 10 regions served and British Columbia, where the service was established in eight regions. In Quebec, 87 per cent of the territory was covered by Opération Nez rouge this year.
Results before the pandemic
In 2019, the last holiday season before the pandemic, the service brought nearly 70,000 Canadians including more than 50,000 Quebecers home.
In 2020, in Quebec, there had been no escorts due to containment measures and, although launched as usual in 2021, Operation Red Nose had to end its activities on December 21 when Quebec had once again prohibits gatherings during the holiday season.
We do not know the cause of the decrease in the number of escorts compared to 2019, but Marilyn Vigneault believes that the population is becoming more aware of their responsibilities: “We hope that the awareness messages which are hammered out, yes by Nez rouge, but also by Éduc’alcool or the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec, are bearing fruit.”
“We hope that people will target a designated driver, plan their transport in a safe manner, but what I can tell you is that in 1984, when Jean-Marie De Koninck, founder of the Operation Red Nose, had this idea, 50 per cent of fatal accidents were linked to impaired driving, whereas today we are at 30%. We see an improvement, but there is still work to be done.”
