Opération Nez rouge (literally, "Operation Red Nose"), founded in 1984, is an escorting service offered in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and several

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

countries, as well as other places in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

using both the French name and Operation Red Nose during the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

holiday season.

Description

The escorting service is offered to anyone who does not feel capable of driving due to

alcohol consumption An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...

fatigue Fatigue describes a state of tiredness that does not resolve with rest or sleep. In general usage, fatigue is synonymous with extreme tiredness or exhaustion that normally follows prolonged physical or mental activity. When it does not resolve ...

, or any reason. Although it is a free service,

donations A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provid ...

are accepted. Each year during the holiday season, an advertising campaign reminds the public to use the service if necessary. When needing a ride, the client first calls the

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

. The client must have his/her own car—it is not a taxi service. An escort team of three volunteers arrives. One volunteer, the 'escort driver', uses his or her own car to drive the other two volunteers to the client's location. The 'designated driver' volunteer then drives the client home in the client's own car. The third volunteer is the 'navigator', and drives with the designated driver and client, collecting any donation that the client should want to make, giving the client a receipt, and making conversation with the client so the client does not bother the driver. When the ride is over, the escort driver picks up the designated driver and the navigator. Originally donations went to the swimming team of

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...

, but the organization became so successful that today donations go to 150 organizations. The costs of Operation Nez Rouge are covered by sponsors (such as insurance companies.)

History

Operation Nez Rouge was started in 1984 in Quebec City by

Jean-Marie De Koninck Jean-Marie De Koninck, (born 1948) is a Canadian mathematician. He has served as a professor at Université Laval since 1972 and is the creator of the road safety program Opération Nez Rouge, or "Red Nose Operation", a system preventing people ...

, who had two goals. He wanted to finance Université Laval's swimming team and he wanted to do something to fight driving under the influence. He knew that drivers leaving bars refused taxis to bring them home when intoxicated, not because of the cost, but because they wanted to have their own cars the next day. Thus came the idea to simply offer an escorting service. The service was used 1,205,894 times between 1984 and 2004. The service was the setting of the 2003 romantic comedy film ''

Red Nose "Red Nose" is a song by American rapper Sage the Gemini from his debut album '' Remember Me''. The song was released as his debut single on March 19, 2013. It was a minor hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 52 but fared better on ...

(Nez rouge)''. In 2020, the only regions in Switzerland that are not served are Basel, Engadin and Upper Valais. In 2021, the total number of people transported since 1990 is 493,000.

References

External links

Official Site in CanadaOfficial Site in Switzerland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Operation Nez Rouge Organizations based in Quebec Driving under the influence