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It's shameful to say it, but the greater Sussex area could really use a program like Operation Red Nose.

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Operation Red Nose is a road-safety program that sets up volunteer drivers with those who have consumed too much alcohol and aren't in a position or condition to drive themselves home.

It's the ideal way to eliminate any and all excuses for anyone who plans on planting themselves behind the wheel after a few glasses of holiday cheer. No cash for a cab? Operation Red Nose is free. Didn't have any other way home or couldn't find any friends to pick you up? Operation Red Nose is great in those situations.

Operation Red Nose, celebrating 25 years in service this year, started in Quebec City. It is in more than 100 communities across Canada. It is a simple program with a simple solution. If trends have show us anything, it's that to really get people to do or use something they otherwise might not, you've got to make it so simple that they can't help but use it.

Anyone who reads this newspaper's court coverage regularly knows about the prevalence of impaired driving here. Days where there isn't someone in a local courtroom answering to a charge of drunk driving are rare, coconuts in Antarctica rare.

Operation Red Nose unfortunately is only around during the Christmas holidays, but at least it's something. The federal and provincial governments are boosting fines and tightening legislation but it's ultimately up to us to follow through.

There is a new Operation Red Nose chapter opening in the greater Saint John area in time for the 2008 holiday season. In 2009, let's see if Sussex can be added to the more than 100 communities who give the gift of safer streets during the Christmas rush.

New Brunswickers interested in establishing Operation Red Nose in their community can contact Chantal Lefebvre at their national office. The phone number is (418)-653-1492 and her e-mail is clefebvre@operationnezrouge.com