MPI spokesperson Brian Smiley says in the first four months of 2020, alcohol was involved in nearly one-third of the 16 fatal crashes on Manitoba’s public roadways.

He adds that people not using seatbelts and drivers who speed also contribute to the fatalities.

Smiley explains that while traffic volume and collision counts have seen a decrease so far, likely due to the pandemic, the number of fatalities has remained about the same as last year. He notes the death counts for the first couple of months, March and April aren’t significantly different from a year ago, roughly four deaths per average from those months, roughly the same as the year before which is a bit surprising but again that tells us that people are continuing to travel too quickly, the severity of the crashes remains the same so traffic counts are down but unfortunately the fatalities are roughly the same as last year’s period.

Smiley goes on to say that while a number of MPI’s initiatives for lowering road fatalities have been suspended due to COVID-19, law enforcement is continuing to monitor the roads for those who may be driving under the influence.