Operation Red Nose volunteers hit by possible drunk driver near Kamloops, B.C.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A volunteer organization that offers free rides to drivers who may have been drinking says some of its members working near Kamloops, B.C., on New Year’s Eve were involved in a crash with a suspected impaired driver.

Operation Red Nose runs during the holiday season and uses the intoxicated person’s own vehicle, while a second Red Nose member follows in a separate car to collect the volunteer driver.

Spokeswoman Katie Klassen says a volunteer, followed by a second vehicle, was transporting clients just before midnight on New Year’s Eve when both vehicles were hit.

RCMP Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey says in a statement that a Dodge Ram hit the vehicles from behind then came to a final stop down an embankment.

He says no one was seriously hurt and the 24-year-old Kamloops man driving the Ram who refused to provide a breath sample was issued a 90-day roadside prohibition and charged with driving without due care and attention.

Klassen says she’s pleased the situation was not more serious.

“It’s just unfortunate that someone did not make the right decision to take an alternative ride home and that it affected our volunteers,” she says. (CFJC, CHNL)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2020.