With more than 30 alcohol-related road deaths in Manitoba this year – 109 fatalities in total – Manitoba Public Insurance is putting out a call to action to make this a safe holiday season on Manitoba highways.
“Manitobans can make the decision to do their part and reduce alcohol-related deaths on our highways,” said Ted Hlynsky, Vice-President, Claims Control & Safety Operations, Manitoba Public Insurance.
“The past year was a tragic one on our highways. We’re challenging Manitobans to make this holiday season a safe one on our roadways.”
Quick Statistics:
• 34 people are confirmed, or suspected, to have been killed in alcohol-related collisions this year in our province. This represents 31 per cent of people killed on Manitoba roads in 2011.
• Over the years 2005 to 2010, an average of 26 people are killed each year in Manitoba in alcohol-related collisions.
• Traffic crashes are the number one cause of youth fatalities in this country.
• Forty percent of people killed in alcohol-related collisions in Manitoba are under the age of 25.
• More than half of young drivers (aged 16 to 24) in Canada who admit to driving when they were over the legal limit, say they did so with passengers in the vehicle. (Source: The Road Safety Monitor 2010 – Youth Drinking and Driving, Traffic Injury Research Foundation)
• Nearly one half of senior 3 and 4 students in Manitoba have been a passenger with a driver who had consumed alcohol within an hour of driving. (Source: AFM 2007 High School Survey)
“Alcohol-related crashes are 100 per cent preventable,” said Hlynsky. “That’s why we’re asking Manitoba drivers to make this one of the safest holiday seasons ever on our roadways.
“Safer streets and highways mean fewer collisions, fewer fatalities and injuries. Manitoba Public Insurance is focused on road safety and committed to reducing alcohol-related deaths and injuries.”
