RCMP remind Manitobans to drive safe this August long weekend

Manitoba RCMP are preparing for a busy long weekend as thousands of motorists take to the highways, travelling to festivals and other destinations across the province.

Mounties are getting ready to deal with several issues such as impaired driving, speeding, and higher-than-normal traffic volumes.

"Typically we see a huge influx of traffic on the Friday of the long weekends, and then Saturday and Sunday are a little slower because people are at their destinations for the weekend," said Sgt. Mark Hume, Unit Commander with RCMP Northwest Traffic Services, "Monday afternoon, we see that huge influx when everyone's coming home."

Hume says the focus for officers Saturday and Sunday will be on catching impaired drivers, as those numbers often go up on the long weekend.

"Provincially it accounts for about 45 per cent of our fatalities every year. It's a little lower so far this year, but we're only halfway through the summer, we've still got a couple of big weekends to go."

Speeding has also been a major issue this year, according to Hume.

"We're seeing a huge increase in super speeders, our officers are stopping people going 160, 170, 180 (kilometres per hour) or even higher…we've had a couple in the 200s lately."

Hume is reminding people to fasten their seatbelts.

"We've had a lot of rollover ejection fatalities this year," he said. "99 per cent of the time, if people are buckled up, they can survive a simple rollover."

The higher traffic is due to a number of festivals taking place around the province this weekend, including Rocking the Fields of Minnedosa, Pioneer Days in Steinbach, and the Icelandic Festival in Gimli.

Hume says people just need to take their time and drive safely.

"There's going to be huge numbers of traffic, people just need to be patient, get to their destination, drive within the speed limits and everyone will be good."