Driver, 84, to be charged after driving wrong way on Trans-Canada

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This article was published 11/12/2019 (1597 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An 84-year-old Winnipeg man is facing charges after a harrowing incident on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Headingley, sent two people to hospital Wednesday night.

At about 9 p.m., the RCMP started receiving reports that a minivan travelling east in the westbound lanes of Highway 1, near Elie, had nearly hit several vehicles.

Police went after the minivan, using their emergency lights and siren, but the driver failed to stop. An officer blocked the westbound lanes of traffic with a marked police truck. The suspect vehicle did not stop and collided with the police vehicle. The elderly minivan driver and the 44-year-old RCMP officer were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

RCMP Cpl. Julie Courchaine couldn’t say how far the man had been driving against traffic on the divided highway.

“Initial calls that we received were that the minivan was driving on Highway 1 east approximately eight kilometres east of Elie, Man.,” Courchaine said.

“The minivan collided with the police vehicle approximately 500 metres west of the Headingley weigh scales,” she said.

The elderly driver, who was the registered owner of the minivan, had a valid driver’s licence, said Courchaine. There is no indication alcohol was involved, she said.

Charges against the driver are pending and the RCMP continue to investigate. That investigation will include whether or not the driver _ who did not stop for police who were using the siren and flashing lights — has health or cognitive issues, said Courchaine.

His age, per se, isn’t the issue, she said. A person that old driving on the highway in the winter so late at night is not the issue, either, said Courchaine.

“Generally speaking, as long as you have a valid driver’s licence, you can operate your vehicle at any time of day,” she said.

Older drivers, statistically, don’t cause most of the accidents in Manitoba, MPI data show.

In 2018, the youngest driver age groups in Manitoba (16 to 19 and 20 to 24) had the highest rates of involvement in collisions. They were involved in more than double the number of crashes than drivers 65 and older, MPI’s most recent annual report said.

The number of collisions for drivers aged 65 to 74 fell three per cent in 2018 from a year earlier. For drivers aged 75 and older, the number of collisions rose by one per cent in 2018 from 2017, the MPI report said.

There are a number of “checks and balances” in place for all drivers regardless of age, said MPI spokesman Brian Smiley. Those include MPI’s driver improvement and control unit and its medical compliance unit, which can suspend people who have medical issues that could affect their driving ability, he said.

Doctors are obligated to report patients who may have had a medical condition such as dementia, stroke, or seizure, that could affect their driving, said Smiley. Calls for automatic retesting of drivers when they reach a certain age would require a change in legislation, he said.

The province has a safety course geared to older drivers, Smiley said. Safety Services Manitoba offers a free mature driver workshop that aims to increase confidence and driving ability.

So far this year, 1,300 people have participated in the program, said Judy Murphy, Safety Services Manitoba president and CEO. They’re held in communities around the province: in Swan River, Dauphin, Thompson, Brandon and other locations in or near Winnipeg, she said.

“Communities can contact us to schedule for their group and location,” said Murphy. The next scheduled workshop is in Winnipeg on Jan. 8.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca