According to the province’s vehicle insurance agency, Thanksgiving weekend is known in Manitoba as the worst long weekend for collisions and fatalities.
While long weekends in general often see an increase in road collisions, Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) says Thanksgiving has proven to be the most problematic.
“There’s roughly 900 collisions over that four-day long weekend,” Brian Smiley, a spokesperson for MPI, told Global News.
“Forty-eight per cent of those collisions occur on Friday. That’s compared to only 11 per cent on Monday,” he continued.
A Canada-wide campaign aimed at educating drivers on long weekend road safety was launched earlier this week, complete with more enforcement efforts.
“We know that the 220 police forces across our country will be participating in this campaign, so you can expect to see added enforcement this weekend,” said Chief Robert Martin.
Martin sits as the co-chair of the traffic safety committee for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.
Martin says most long weekend collisions are easily avoidable.
“It’s usually caused by driver condition or driver neglect: not wearing their seat belt, using their cell phone, drug or alcohol-impaired driving.”
Other than Thanksgiving, the long weekend with the most collisions in Manitoba is Louis Riel Day in February.
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