Kenaston drunk driving victim honoured in awareness campaign

A Kenaston woman killed by a drunk driver more than two years ago is being honoured by a campaign aimed at stopping others from facing the same fate.
 
The picture of Danille Kerpan will be featured on the back of RTL Westcan’s trucks in an attempt to encourage drivers to report impairment by calling 9-1-1.
 
Kerpan, 25, was killed while driving home from Saskatoon on Oct. 10, 2014 after a drunk driver crossed the median on Highway 11.
 
Her family was on-hand for the ceremony, held at WestCan’s facility in north Saskatoon.
 
“On one hand it’s truly humbling,” Danille’s father, Allan Kerpan said. “On the other hand it’s a sad day, because it’s another realization that this really happened.”
 
Kerpan will be the fifth victim to be featured on more than 150 trucks in Westcan’s fleet across the country.
 
Her mother Melanie said she had been looking for a way to honour her daughter after the tragedy. A year later, she was driving past the site of the crash when she saw a Westcan truck featuring a photo of another victim.
 
“It was just incredible when I saw the sign,” she said. “It was like an ‘aha’ moment.”
 
She added it had been Danille’s life goal to help people, telling her sister hours before she died “If I could just change one person’s life, I’d be happy.”
 
“By this program, she’s hopefully going to make a big difference in a lot of people’s lives,” Allan said.

‘The loss is immeasurable’

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada is sponsoring the campaign.
 
National President Patricia Hynes-Coates said the visual nature of the decals should make people take the issue of drinking and driving more seriously.
 
“Seeing this beautiful girl’s face, this is very impactful,” she said.
 
“If I was driving down the road and I saw this child on a moving billboard, I would stop and think. Not just as a victim, but as a mother and a sibling.”
 
She added it’s difficult for the Kerpans and other victims to see drinking and driving continue to claim lives, and she hopes the campaign will help change that.
 
“It frustrates us beyond words,” Hynes-Coates said.
 
“The loss is immeasurable, it’s indescribable.”