Icy road conditions cause concern for Winnipeg drivers

If you’ve driven on the roads in winnipeg, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced some slip and sliding. As road conditions and blowing snow continue to take over, some drivers in the city say it’s been rough out there.

“It’s very slippery if you’re not careful enough, and the people going through the red lights are ridiculous, they don’t stop they just keep going and going,” said one local.

“Some people still haven’t figured it out yet, just because it’s 80, you shouldn’t even do 60 if you have to do 50 then you do 50,” said another local.

In an effort to ensure the roads are in the best possible condition, the city’s manager of streets maintenance, Michael Cantor, says they are monitoring them 24/7.

“We have trucks out there all the time it’s just there’s so many kilometers to do. We try to hit every street at least once a day, if not more. It depends on the location, depends on conditions,” said Cantor.

The city says they have 44 sand spreading trucks that keep roads under control, but Cantor says it’s also up to drivers to take responsibility too.

“We can’t be anywhere at anytime and we can’t have sand everywhere because it’s moving around and flying off the street, so I can’t emphasize enough how much is important for people, for drivers to just slow down,” said Cantor.

Manitoba Public Insurance says they’ve received 725 claims from people whose vehicles were damaged during last weeks storm.

“There’s black ice, lots of roads have icy conditions even if sand has been laid down so you want to make sure you have as much traction and connection to the roadway as you can and winter tires provide you that,” said Tara Seel, media & public relations lead at MPI.

Seel says MPI receives their highest amount of collision claims through the winter months and urge people to review their safety tips.