Prevention and safety are the primary message being shared by Manitoba Public Insurance in supporting a national Day of Remembrance for road crash victims on Nov. 15.
The initiative launched by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators is aimed at highlighting losses suffered in collisions that are often preventable.
In a statement issued Tuesday, MPI stated road collisions in the province last year claimed 107 lives, making it the deadliest year of the last five on Manitoba roads.
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“The National Day of Remembrance serves as a reminder about those who have been killed in motor vehicle crashes and the loved ones they have left behind,” Ward Keith with MPI said. “It also gives us the opportunity to think about the consequences of our own actions when behind the steering wheel.”
Keith added that poor choices and high-risk driving behaviours all to often lead to crashes. Behaviours including driving impaired, driving too fast for conditions, driving while distracted and not using seatbelts:
- impaired driving collisions on Manitoba roads claim an average of 25 lives per year
- about 28 people are killed each year due to distracted driving
- 20 people lost their lives in 2016 in crashes involving motor-vehicles and bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians
- a person is 35 times more likely to die in a crash when not wearing a seatbelt
Winnipeg police said they are all in favour of eliminating traffic deaths on Manitoba roadways and believe education and enforcement are the key to changing driver behaviour.
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