CBC Driven series gets award from Liquor Corporation

A series produced by the CBC in Newfoundland and Labrador about distracted and dangerous driving has been given an award by the provincial Liquor Corporation.

The NLC President's Award, which recognizes organizations and individuals for "social responsibility", was picked up Thursday by the executive producer of news and current affairs for CBC NL, Peter Gullage.

The 2016 Driven series, fronted by reporter Zach Goudie and filmed and edited by Ted Dillon, Gary Locke, Sherry Vivian and Paul Pickett, featured videos, radio stories and online material about subjects from the near misses seen by taxi drivers to the challenges police face in telling families the news after a fatal accident.

• Driven: Get it on tape, says taxi driver who sees too many near-misses
• Impounded: Where dangerous cars go to die
• Death notice: How the police break the tragic news of a fatal collision

The series was a partnership between CBC and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

Driven: Part one in a series about life & death on the road

9 years ago

Duration 6:56

RNC officers open up about the hardest job in policing: delivering death notices

"The objective of this public partnership is to have a hand in trying to change behaviour because how we drive has become a public health issue," Gullage said.

"What we presented to the RNC was not a series of stories but a series of ideas about engaging the public to get them thinking about their behaviour."

The Driven series returns on November 14 and will include a Here and Now town hall about dangerous driving.

Episodes are also being used in St. John's schools and by the RNC during presentations and internal training.

Also honoured

The NLC also recognized other individuals and groups Thursday, with an award going to the U-Turn Centre in Carbonear for its work with alcohol and drug addicts.

Team Broken Earth, a group of doctors and health care professionals who have done outreach work in countries such as Haiti since 2010, were honoured.

Stella Michel, founder of 12 Months 12 Miracles, and Tracey Sharpe-Smith,who designedEastern Health's Rethink that Drink program, were also awarded.

The corporation also singled out two employees, Laura Wells and Cynthia Care, who flagged intoxicated customers.