Two highways in the Southeast had extra RCMP coverage this past weekend.

Media relations officer Paul Manaigre says a question was posed to Manitobans two weeks ago, "Is there a road or highway you've traveled in Manitoba where you'd like to see more RCMP patrols?" Manaigre notes of the almost 600 responses they received, Highway 207 between Lorette and Deacon's corner as well as Highway 52 between Steinbach and La Broquerie made the top three, along with Highway 10 south of Brandon.

"It kind of goes by population densities and traffic volumes," notes Manaigre. "Myself, having worked in St. Pierre Jolys for 14 years, I'm very familiar with the Steinbach area, the St. Pierre area. So, I understand where the complaints are coming from."

Road Safety Week started last week Tuesday and ended on Monday. He says while officers look for any and all infractions the top three which usually stand out are speeding, distracted driving, and not using seatbelts. Over the long weekend, Manaigre notes RCMP were also on the lookout for impaired drivers, to remove them from the roadway.

The results of Road Safety Week [see chart] include 33 people charged with impaired driving compared to 25 last year, 541 charges for speeding compared to 468, and 15 handheld electronic device charges compared to 11 last year.

On the two top highways in the Southeast, RCMP wrote 26 tickets on Highway 207 - two for disqualified drivers, several unregistered vehicles, and eight speeding tickets, among other infractions. On Highway 52 there were five tickets written including one disqualified driver.

Manaigre says, since 2012, there has been at least one fatality every May long weekend and this year, unfortunately, was no exception. Last year had the highest number of fatalities on Manitoba roadways in a decade. As of this time last year, there were 24 crashes resulting in 28 deaths, compared to 14 crashes resulting in 15 deaths to date this year.

"[Safe driving] is not something we encourage just on May long, it's 365 days a year. Wear your seatbelt, don't drink and drive, don't speed. There's so many more vehicles than there was on the highways a generation ago, but the highways haven't changed. So, obviously people need to take that into consideration and they need to drive appropriately."

He adds, once you throw alcohol or distracted driving into the mix tragedy strikes and he would like to see that trend stop this year.

Manaigre says there will be a discussion over the almost 600 responses and see whether highway four, five, and six should also have additional RCMP coverage for a period of time to continue towards their goal of making Manitoba roadways safer.