Destroyed truck from fatal impaired driving crash a stark visual reminder says MADD Calgary

The red Ford F-150 is badly torn up, the pedals nearly touching the front of the driver's seat, the seat belts and doors cut open and away to allow first responders in to save two lives.

The truck crashed into a traffic light pole on Macleod Trail in 2008, killing the driver and leaving the passenger with significant injuries.

The truck is now strapped to a trailer and will tour Calgary neighbourhoods again this summer as a stark reminder of the consequences of impaired driving.

For veteran first responders it brings back memories of too many crashes to count.

"Images of entering vehicles late at night with people who have sustained life altering or life ending injuries," said Insp. Quinn Jacques with Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service. He's been a police officer for more than 30 years and says it's sometimes the smaller, less violent details that are the most haunting.

"The trauma that comes with that," he added. "Seeing a cell phone ring for someone who's not going to pick it up."

The truck will start out in front of the Tsuut'ina Police Station, but will rotate through communities all through the city over the summer.

The truck crashed into a traffic light pole on MacLeod Trail in 2008, killing the driver and leaving the passenger with significant injuries.

BUSY SUMMER ROADS

Police said they expect people to be out in greater numbers this summer and are concerned for the potential for an increased number of impaired drivers on the road.

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), police lay roughly 9,000 impaired driving charges each year in Alberta.

Tsuut'ina Police Commission chair Violet Meguinis has lost a family member to an impaired crash. She said people have to take responsibility for themselves if they're going drinking, plan a way home and report suspected impaired drivers.

"We mourn the potential that they could have had, we mourn their whole lives that were ahead of them, and for us it's just as raw as it was the day we found out," Meguinis said.

Expect heightened enforcement around Calgary throughout the summer, especially during Stampede.

"We're going to be partnering with the Calgary Police Service at peak times throughout the summer to conduct check stops," said Jacques.