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Tipsy drivers hand wheel to Red Nose volunteers over Christmas

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Operation Red Nose is a road safety campaign aimed at reducing impaired driving during the holiday season. © Keystone / Adrien Perritaz

Volunteer drivers at the Nez Rouge (Red Nose) service helped thousands of tired or drunk revellers get home safely over Christmas.

After a year without rides in 2020 and a limited 2021 edition due the coronavirus pandemic, the charity resumed its full activities in 2022.

Eight hundred volunteers worked on Christmas Eve and “Operation Red Nose” will continue until New Year’s Eve, organisers said Monday in a statement.

The charity service said it has so far recorded 3,900 volunteer commitments, 4,500 rides and ensured the safe return home of 8,500 people across Switzerland.

The demand is lower than in 2019, the year before the pandemic, reflecting a decrease in corporate end-of-year parties.  

The Red Nose Operation first started in Quebec, Canada. The French-speaking canton of Jura was the first to adopt it in Switzerland, in 1990.

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