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This article was published 16/11/2016 (1406 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When you answer your doorbell and open your door, RCMP Sgt. Mark Hume is not the person you want to see.

Hume, who has worked in the RCMP's traffic services unit for a decade and investigated collisions for 12 years, has been called to many vehicle crashes through his career.

It also means Hume has gone to a lot of doors and been the face of tragedy for many families.

"We talk a lot about numbers," he said on Wednesday.

"I tell the students we have to remember this is someone's family out there. The vast majority of murders and manslaughters are not stereotyped whodunnits, but are usually connected to crimes like drug dealer activities.

"But four times that number are people killed on the highway and they are not living a high risk drug lifestyle as a criminal. They are innocent.

"You have no control when a vehicle is speeding at you."

Hume said he knocks on the door when a loved one has done something dumb on the road, been drunk behind the wheel, didn't put their seatbelt on, or just happened to be driving in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Manitoba roads have already claimed 98 fatalities this year, up from 78 in 2015. The grim statistics were noted during Wednesday's annual National Day of Remembrance for road crash victims.

But what that means is an officer like Hume, whether they are with the RCMP, Winnipeg police, or another law enforcement agency in the province, is the one who has to break the tragic news to a family member who usually suspect nothing before their lives change forever.

"I prepare myself for the reaction," Hume said.

"It can be overwhelming grief. It can be disbelief and I have to persuade them it is true. And sometimes people get violent and lash out at you."

Hume recalled one shocked father, who had just been told his wife and 15-year-old daughter had died just minutes before when the rookie driver failed to yield at an intersection, surprised him with his question.

"He looked at me and said 'What do I do now?'" the officer said.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Cpl. Mark Hume of RCMP West Traffic Services

"I said you need to go to the hospital to be with your son who also was injured. I remember every bit about that - it has stuck with me for 16 years."

Hume said in rural areas, where word can travel fast and fatal collisions may have occurred just a few kilometres away from the home the motorist was travelling to, family members can suddenly show up at the scene.

"I've had to restrain and tackle people to prevent them from coming to the car," he said. "That's not the last memory we want them to see.

"It's a lasting memory that would stay with people."

But Hume said there are things motorists can do so they can reduce their chances of being a statistic. From being a fatality on a highway somewhere. From having their loved ones have to answer a police officer's knock.

"I tell people not to drunk drive, follow the speed limit, put on your seat belt," he said.

"If you do all that you reduce the number of crashes. And, because the vast majority of rollovers are survivable if you have a seatbelt on, wear one."

Meanwhile, a couple of things are being done to reduce the number of collisions.

One is that a survey by the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada has found that half of Manitobans are now using winter tires, up from about 39 per cent in 2014. The association says advances in tread design and rubber formulations mean people can brake faster in cold temperatures.

And Coun. Janice Lukes (St. Norbert) is spearheading a move to bring a traffic safety initiative to Winnipeg.

Lukes said Vision Zero, a program initiated in Sweden and now used in Edmonton, has a mandate to reduce the number of road fatalities to zero.

"It takes political will to do this," she said.

"Intersections are where most collisions occur and there are many ways to improve them. You could make the island in the middle larger for pedestrians. If more people are going to live in Winnipeg and it grows more dense you want people to be able to cross streets safely."

Lukes said she considers the pilot projects in her ward, using speed tables instead of speed bumps, concepts that would be considered part of Vision Zero. They are wider than speed bumps and stretch across only one lane with another one stretching across the other lane further down the street.

"It slows down traffic, but doesn't slow down the emergency vehicles - that's why they are staggered," she said.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca