Rural drivers not wearing seatbelts and speed are leading causes of accidents causing death on rural Manitoba roads.
Brian Smiley, the MPI media relations coordinator, says there has been a 25 per cent increase in road fatalities.
"Non-seatbelt use is becoming very troublesome in rural Manitoba, we're really not sure why."
He suggests 50-60 percent of fatalities on rural roads happened because people weren’t wearing their seatbelts.
" People losing control, rolling over, occupants being thrown from the vehicles. they are either being rolled over by the vehicle, hitting a pole, hitting a rock. So non-seatbelt use is particularly troublesome in rural Manitoba."
Smiley says the number of cases of drivers losing control of their vehicle roads has also increased.
"Speed also adds to the severity of the crash. certainly, on gravel roads, they present their own challenges."
If a driver is on a gravel road there is a greater chance that a vehicle can lose control and hit a ditch.
In Manitoba, there have been 38 recorded fatalities compared to 28 last year.
