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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Manitobans should expect more traffic tickets: police
Cite road safety as a priority
Police across Manitoba will crack down on traffic offences this month, as part of a national campaign to reduce vehicular deaths.
Attorney General Andrew Swan and senior police officers from the Winnipeg Police Service, the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police attended a news conference outside the legislature Monday, stressing the importance of driving safely to Manitobans.
"Canada Road Safety Week is one of the annual initiatives to provide public education, heightened awareness and targeted enforcement in the vital area of traffic safety in an effort to save the needless loss of life on Canadian highways, trails and waterways," said Larry Beechey, OPP deputy commissioner and chairman of the traffic committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. "The goal is to make Canada's roads the safest in the world, and we have achieved significant success."
Canada Road Safety Week runs from May 14-21. It is an enforcement-driven initiative designed to increase public compliance with safe driving in a bid to reduce traffic fatalities.
Beechey said the annual campaign has resulted in real safety gains:
-- Between 2008 and 2009, there was an 8.7 per cent reduction in traffic deaths across the country, resulting in the lowest traffic death toll in Canada in 60 years.
-- 2010 saw the first decline nationally of impaired driving offences, a decline of six per cent from the previous year.
Beechey said police across the country will be cracking down on the four key contributors to traffic fatalities: impaired driving, distracted driving, not wearing seatbelts, as well as speeding and reckless driving.
Swan said 100 Manitobans on average die every year in vehicle crashes, adding that improving traffic safety is a combination of police enforcement and public awareness.
Winnipeg police Chief Keith McCaskill said there are too many traffic fatalities, adding everyone has to play their part in reducing those statistics.
"It's all our responsibility to make sure people are driving in a safe and proper manner," McCaskill said.
Bill Robinson, commander of RCMP D Division, said traffic fatalities are avoidable.
"Keeping our roadways safe is a team effort, not just for police but for citizens throughout Manitoba," Robinson said.
-- staff
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 8, 2012 A5
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