Preparing for road revolution

Highway designer Paul Godsmark recently presented a paper to the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals that raises concerns about the lack of vision in the longterm planning of Edmonton and Alberta’s transportation.

His paper addresses two technological tidal waves that will hit our roadways between 2015 and 2019.

Connected vehicles will be able to communicate with each other and with infrastructure, easing congestion and improving the efficiency and safety of road networks.

And autonomous vehicles (or autonomes as we call them) will allow vehicle users to be completely disengaged from driving for most or all of their journey, effectively removing human error, a factor in 93 per cent of collisions.

The road safety benefits, business efficiencies, improved mobility and reduced emissions could possibly boost our gross domestic product by four per cent to seven per cent.

These technologies will eventually change how we use our road space and parking, the size and weight of vehicles, how intersections function and will transform public transport.

We need to prepare now and ensure our policies, regulations and standards can accommodate this coming revolution on our roads.

The provincial government should demand a coolingoff period of at least a year to allow people with vision to analyze new technologies that will be available in two or three years.

A delay of one year is of no consequence in the life of a city that has been here for 100 years.

Louis Grimble, Edmonton