The COVID-19 pandemic means Manitoba’s highways may not be seeing the typical Victoria Day long weekend traffic, but they’re still busy — and dangerous.
Michelle Golebiowski told 680 CJOB she’s been a road safety advocate since 2007, when her best friend, a tow truck driver, was killed in a roadside accident.
Golebiowski said she’s spoken with tow truck drivers who’ve been grazed by passenger side mirrors while they were doing work on the roadside, and that keeping their head on a swivel has become part of their jobs.
“It is extremely scary, it’s not just my work as a road safety advocate, but it’s also being a seasoned tow-truck passenger,” she said.
“I’ve seen first-hand being on calls with drivers on the side of the highway how fast and how close vehicles can get — and that’s when the conditions are good.
“In my experience and those who can relate to it, you’re on edge — you’re at high alert, you’re looking behind you. Self-awareness is key just to protect yourself, because you never know what could happen.”
Golebiowski said even though it’s only law for emergency vehicles, drivers should be slowing down and giving anyone pulled over on the side of the road a full lane of space.
Manitoba RCMP is reminding motorists they’ll be watching for speeders on the province’s highways over the long weekend.
In March and April alone, the RCMP issued 106 tickets for speeding in the province.
According to Sgt. Mark Hume, most speeders pull over — once they realize they’ve attracted the attention of police.
“For the most part, people are at least cooperating when they see us and they slow down.
“We can catch up to them and pull them over — or the old saying is ‘you can’t outrun the radio.’ We can call ahead to another officer who can be waiting down the road so he doesn’t have to chase after them.”
Hume said in one case this week, police pulled over a driver on Highway 16 going 151 km/h in a 100 zone.
“What we call the superspeeders are really through the roof. I think the highest we’ve seen is 130 km/h over the speed limit.
“Basically as soon as the pandemic started — we saw it in the first wave of the pandemic when the highways were pretty empty — I think people just thought, ‘not much traffic out, I can step it up’.”