Auto collision death rate drops in Manitoba but 25 killed every year due to distracted driving: MPI

Seventy people were killed on public roadways in Manitoba in 2014, the lowest annual figure in 30 years, the province’s government auto insurer announced Thursday.

“Manitoba road fatalities have been steadily decreasing over the years, with 2014 being the lowest year in three decades,” stated Manitoba Public Insurance Corp., the compulsory auto insurance carrier owned by the provincial government.

“Additional preliminary data collected by Manitoba’s public auto insurer also showed there were 10 people killed in 2014 as a result of nine off-road vehicle crashes,” MPI stated in a release. “That was two fewer deaths than in 2013.”

The death toll of 70 in 2014 was 58% lower than the 30-year high – of 168 – in 1986, MPI added.

The insurer said Thursday that 25 people are killed every in Manitoba due to distracted driving, about one-third of road fatalities are alcohol related and a person is “32 times more likely to be killed and five times more likely to be seriously injured when not wearing a seatbelt.”