Drivers urged to keep their distance

Edmonton drivers are being warned to watch out for the rear end in front of them.

Almost 40 per cent of the collisions in the city last year were caused by motorists following another vehicle too closely, the largest single factor in crashes, figures released Thursday by the city’s office of traffic safety indicate.

That figure, which translated into 9,700 collisions in 2015, has been roughly the same for the past five years, despite efforts to bring it down, senior research co-ordinator Laura Thue said.

“We need to get this message across much more strongly. It’s a simple change,” she said, advising people to keep at least a three-second space between them and the vehicle ahead.

“When we’re out driving, we have to consider, ‘Is there enough space between me and the next driver?’ ”

The top intersection for such crashes in 2015 was Yellowhead Trail and 149th Street, where 65 rear-enders occurred.

The same location also led the list in 2014 when it saw 75 rear-end collisions. Four other intersections were on the list for both years.

The total number of rear-enders was about the same the past two years, with 472 reported in 2014 and 469 last year.

One reason so many of the same collision locations show up is that these are among Edmonton’s busiest intersections, Thue said.

While the city is trying to bring these numbers down with increased traffic law enforcement and road engineering improvements, most of the problem results from speeding, a lack of attention and driver error, she said.

“This is an area that we continue to work on, but we obviously need to do more, especially around driver behaviour,” she said.

“We do seem to have, to some extent, a culture of speed in this city. I think we have to change peoples’ attitudes around speed. It really requires a cultural shift.”

Although other collision statistics for 2015 aren’t yet ready for release, the total number of crashes dropped from a peak of 29,072 in 2009 to 24,627 in 2014, even as Edmonton’s population grew.

Cutting rear-ender collisions will likely require the same kind of decades-long work that was needed to combat drunk driving, Thue said.

“It’s a very slow process … It’s not an easy thing when we have human beings involved.”