RCMP urges safe driving ahead of long weekend as Manitoba road fatalities jump by 34% this year
Posted July 31, 2026 5:39 pm.
Last Updated August 1, 2026 9:50 am.
As Manitobans are gearing up to hit the road for the long weekend, RCMP is urging caution on the road.
The warning comes as new data released Friday showed a 34 per cent increase in the number of road fatalities so far this year.
Mica Orcullo lost her husband in a car crash in April 2025. At the time, police confirmed the driver involved in the crash was impaired her husband was riding his bike on Highway 9 outside of St. Andrews.
“It’s just sad to hear that what my family went through is happening again and again,” Orcullo said. “It makes me think about the families who are going through this and how I wouldn’t want anyone to be in our position,” she added. “One year has passed, but I feel like it was just yesterday.”
Orcullo says it is upsetting to know that other families across Manitoba are going through the tragedy of losing a loved one.
“My kids are constant reminders that we lost the one we loved, and it shouldn’t have been like this. because of one person’s poor choice, now my kids have to grow up without a dad.”
RCMP were called to 43 fatal collisions so far in 2026 with drug or alcohol impairment suspected or confirmed in 12 of these cases, compared to 18 in 2025.
Tanya Hansen Pratt, national president of MADD Canada says, calls it an alarming trend.
“It looks like we are going to be higher than that this year,” Pratt said. “And it’s really upsetting because this message has been out for decades.”
Madd Canada is calling on motorists to use caution no matter the circumstance.
“There are so many things people can do to plan ahead,” Pratt said. “There is really no excuse to drive impaired.”
