Manitoban killed by impaired driver the new face of MADD campaign

Beryl Hansen was killed on April 20, 1999 after she was hit by 19-year-old impaired driver outside of Portage la Prairie, Man. (Source: MADD Canada)

Tanya Hansen Pratt will never forget the call she received one fateful day in April of 1999.

On the other end of the line was her brother, a police officer, who was calling to give her life-changing news.

“All he could say was ‘mom’s dead,’” she recalled. “I couldn’t comprehend it.”

Hansen Pratt’s mother Beryl, 59, was out walking early that morning near Portage la Prairie, Man. It was a routine she’d established after recently retiring.

She was struck by a 19-year-old driver who had been out partying the night before, Hansen Pratt said.

She was left in a water-filled ditch alone.

“Mom was taken from me and my two brothers, taken because someone made a terrible, irreversible choice.”

Over 20 years later, Hansen Pratt hopes her mother’s story will dissuade others from making that same choice.

Her image and story are being used in this year’s Red Ribbon campaign by MADD Canada, an organization that Hansen Pratt now serves as the national president.

The annual awareness campaign is launched leading up to the holiday season. It distributes red ribbons and decals as a symbol of the wearer’s pledge to never drive impaired, and to honour victims and survivors of impaired drivers.

Hansen Pratt was on hand for the campaign’s kick-off alongside members of the Manitoba RCMP and Winnipeg Police Service.

“We hope that her story will help people understand what is truly at stake when someone drives impaired,” Hansen Pratt said.

‘IT COMES DOWN TO PEOPLE MAKING CHOICES’

Manitoba RCMP commanding officer Rob Hill says tragedies on the roadways across this country are shattering families.

So far this year, he says, there have been 495 charges under the Canadian Criminal Code for impaired driving and 870 immediate roadside suspensions in Manitoba jurisdictions.

Ninety-six people have been killed on Manitoba roadways this year, he says.

“We still have months to go before the end of 2023, and these numbers are already too high,” he said.

In the campaign kick-off, Hill called on the public to drive sober, and to step in if they see someone getting behind the wheel while impaired, be it by arranging another ride or by calling 911 to report them.

He says RCMP will once again increase patrols and sobriety checks on drivers during the busy holiday season.

Ultimately, he says, change starts with the public.

“It comes down to people making choices.”