The government is pleased to confirm $105,000 in continued funding for Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) Alberta and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada. Funding will be provided through the Alberta Traffic Safety Fund.

“MADD and SADD do good work to educate students and the public on the dangers of impaired driving and I’m pleased to continue supporting their efforts to improve safety on Alberta roads.”

Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation

SADD Alberta will receive $80,000 to provide resources and activities to help high school students learn about the dangers of drinking, drugs and distractions while driving.

“SADD Alberta is excited to work with the Government of Alberta, as well as the youth and communities in the province, to help eliminate impaired driving. Students of all ages can send an important message and have a big impact on their local communities. This partnership will allow us the opportunity to reach students through speaker tours and develop new resources for junior and senior high school students throughout the province.”

Arthur Lee, provincial community liaison, SADD

MADD Canada will receive $25,000 to cover the cost of bringing the School Assembly Program to schools across Alberta. This program helps to educate Grade 7-12 students about how to keep themselves safe in risky situations and adopt alternative solutions to driving impaired by alcohol and drugs.

“The Alberta Traffic Safety Fund has been a sponsor of MADD Canada’s School Assembly Program since 2009, donating more than $200,000 in that time. This generous support has enabled MADD Canada to deliver more than 200 presentations to middle and high schools across Alberta over the past 10 years, reaching approximately 100,000 youth.”

Dawn Regan, CEO, MADD Canada

Quick facts

  • The Alberta Traffic Safety Fund is a key tool to support communities and stakeholders mobilize around local traffic safety priorities. It aims to build community capacity to identify local traffic safety priorities and build local solutions to address safety issues.
  • In addition to the offence of impaired driving, there are separate offences of having specified prohibited levels of alcohol, cannabis or certain other drugs in the blood within two hours of driving.
  • In Alberta, and in most other Canadian jurisdictions, a driver with a blood alcohol concentration between 0.05 and 0.079 may face provincial consequences through the Immediate Roadside Suspension Program.
  • Cannabis limits are measured by detecting minute traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the blood stream, referred to as nanograms.
  • On average, 6,000 people were convicted of impaired driving in Alberta each year for the last five years (April 2015 to March 2019).