'Devastated my life': Calgary widow encourages sober driving over the holidays

Calgarian Susan White lost her husband to an impaired driver three years ago, and says she has been struggling ever since.

"It has devastated my life," she said.

White was travelling behind her husband Kelly Ross in a minivan as he rode his motorcycle on the evening of Sept. 23, 2019. It's something she says they had done hundreds of times before.

As they approached the intersection of Peigan Trail and 36th Street S.E., Ross was hit by an SUV.

The driver, Wenieke Thijs, was convicted of impaired driving causing death.

His blood-alcohol content after his arrest showed he had 170 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.

"Over twice the limit," White noted. 

She says she slammed on her brakes, abandoning her vehicle in the intersection, to find her husband had been thrown several feet.

"I kept my hands on his back, feeling him breathing. I kept telling him to hold on, telling him I love him," she said. 

"The hardest thing I've ever done was to leave Kelly laying cold, alone and dead on the ground." 

Thijs took off and was arrested a short time later.

He told court this year he had drank three beers and half a mickey of vodka before the crash. 

"We had a life. We had plans. We had a future," White said. "He was funny and smart, and everything to me. I'm living a very lonely life now without him."

White spoke about her heartbreaking loss on Wednesday at an event promoting MADD Calgary's Project Red Ribbon campaign promoting sober driving over the holidays.

It's the 35^th year for the annual campaign, which runs from Nov. 1 until Jan 2.

White says she wants the public to have fun celebrating the holidays with work colleagues, friends or family, but to also be responsible.

"Please make the right choice so that we can all be here," she said.

Thijs is currently awaiting sentencing, which is scheduled for early next year.

CALGARY TRAFFIC FATALITIES IN 2022

Calgary police said Wednesday there have been 17 traffic fatalities so far this year, with more than half involving alcohol. 

In Alberta, over the last ten years, 500 people have been killed and more than 700 people have been injured from impaired driving. 

"You're not getting somebody who was weighing the logic of killing or injuring somebody, the logic of being arrested and charged by the police," said Staff Sgt. Robbie Patterson. 

"The impact that would have, they're already in a position that they're not making very good choices."

Patterson says the campaign allows police to speak with youth at schools alongside MADD Calgary, to foster positive driving habits. 

"We're hoping that the younger generations that we're reaching out to…That the vast majority of them are doing the right thing," Patterson said.

Aaron Libby, the interim Vice President of MADD Calgary, was also involved in an impaired driving incident. 

He is due for knee surgery soon, but has suffered severely with a brain injury for years. 

"It's a senseless act," said Libby.

"So many people daily are impacted, whether they're killed or injured. Here I am nine-and-a-half years later after my crash…I still had at least 30 years more to work, and I lost that in the blink of an eye because of an impaired driver."

For White, she says Ross was the apple of her eye and his absence has left a massive hole in her heart. 

"There isn't a day or a minute that goes by that he's not part of me and part of my thoughts," she said. 

"It took my person away from me. It took away a father, a brother and uncle a son."

Calgary police say roughly fifty percent of traffic fatalities in the city are due to impaired drivers. 

Checkstops  will be set up around Calgary throughout the holidays to rid the roads of impaired drivers.