A sobering message on the dangers and consequences of impaired driving has been delivered to students in Dryden and Ignace.
On July 25th, 2008, Jordan McCool-Morin lost his mother and grandmother when their car got struck head-on by an impaired driver.
The family was headed from Grandview, Manitoba to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a family wedding.
Jordan was only a teenager at the time and he was behind the lead car when he witnessed the crash.
McCool-Morin says the young woman responsible for the crash was both drunk and high at the time,and led police on a chase when she realized what she had done.
She was eventually arrested but only served a two-year prison sentence.
Jordan McCool-Morin was invited by Provincial Police to share his story with area students.
His message was simple: step up and do the right thing and stop a friend or anyone from drinking and driving.
“I know you’re in situations sometimes where it’s not cool to stop your friends from driving, but what happened to me was certainly not cool.” McCool-Morin says. “You have to be the bigger person, and the right thing is not always the easy thing. You’ve got to be the bigger person and just tell them it’s not right, and stop them.”
McCool-Morin also offered some tips on how to cope with tragedy.
He stressed it’s important to use family and friends as a support network.
“Appreciate family and friends while you can, because life is too short.”
McCool-Morin says post-traumatic growth is also important, noting you can only go up from a dark place and build yourself stronger than you were before.
The closing message to students was “call your parents at any hour of the day for a ride”.
