| May
24, 2000 Mock collision on rural roads drives home message that booze, speed, gravel don't mix Sixteen teenagers die on rural roads each year compared with nine on urban roads. That is why a group of agencies with a common interest in helping young people in rural areas avoid collisions, injuries and death staged a full-scale mock collision today for a group of Grade 12 students from Steinbach and St. Pierre. The event was spearheaded by the Manitoba Brain Injury Association (MBIA) and the PARTY program (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth), with support from Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) and local RCMP, fire and ambulance services. "While each of us may come at it from a slightly different angle, we clearly all agree that by pooling our resources and our perspectives, we create a very meaningful way of communicating to young people that the risks they take can have lifelong consequences," said MBIA president Glen Bergeron. The mock collision graphically illustrates the wide range of risks that contribute to collisions or heighten their severity, and the consequences that follow. While most students are familiar with the "Don't Drink and Drive" message so prevalent as graduation approaches, they were reminded today that other behaviours can be just as deadly. This morning's crash scenario staged between Steinbach and St. Pierre involved speed, impaired driving, non-use of seat belts, an uncontrolled intersection and a gravel road among other factors. Following the events at the crash site, injury survivors, police, fire and ambulance personnel each talked to the students about their own experiences at real-life collisions. MPI Driver Education Supervisor Lou Gervino gave the students a taste of MPI's new gravel roads module that was introduced to the Driver Education curriculum this spring. "Students in rural areas face different driving challenges than their urban counterparts," said Gervino. "Driving on gravel is one of those challenges. "For example, traction isn't as good as on asphalt and the roads are often narrow, meaning there are few places to go if trouble presents itself. The new Driver Education module helps equip the students with information that will help them be safer drivers on rural roads." Of the approximately 120 Manitobans killed each year in traffic collisions, about three quarters are killed on rural roads - 20 of them on gravel.
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