Report has good, bad news for motorists

A city report released Friday says 2017 was a mixed bag for Edmonton motorists. While collisions involving pedestrians, bikes and motorcycles fell, total collisions and those causing fatalities actually rose compared to the previous year.

Pedestrian collisions decreased 7.5 per cent while those involving bikes fell 16.4 per cent and collisions involving motorcycles fell 19.4 per cent. Meanwhile, total collisions rose 3.3 per cent to 23,906 last year from 23,139 in 2016.

Fatal collisions also jumped to 26 from 21, involving nine drivers, four passengers, nine pedestrians, four motorcyclists and one cyclist.

Intersections made up the majority of problem areas, comprising 58.2 per cent and resulting in 70.6 per cent of total injuries, and 48.1 per cent of fatalities.

Gerry Shimko, executive director of the city’s traffic safety section, links the uptick to the unusually long winter and poor road conditions.

The three most collisionprone months were December, November and January, in that order.

Another probable culprit for the increase is distracted driving.

“Avoid peeking at your cellphone and doing other things that may take your eyes off the road,” Shimko said Friday.

According to a major insurer, claims for accidents involving distracted driving jumped 58 per cent in Alberta in the past two years, far above the 23 per cent national average.

Leaving an appropriate gap between vehicles should also be a priority, said Shimko.

Following too closely caused as many collisions as the next six top causes combined. The next primary causes were striking parked vehicles, changing lanes improperly, being run off the road and a vehicle making a left turn across a path.

At 42.4 per cent, following too closely was also the cause most likely to result in injury or fatality.

The report is based on the traffic safety section’s internal database, which logs collisions on public roadways that result in property damage of $2,000 or more as well as any that cause an injury or fatality.

Of the 27 fatalities in 2017, nine were pedestrians.

The city has identified 659 dangerous crosswalks, but at current investment levels it would take 29 years to upgrade them all. Officials hope to shorten that time frame.

Although there was one bike-related death in 2017, the trend for cyclists is encouraging.

Shimko attributes this to the safety audits the city conducted with independent reviewers while the cycling grid was being planned.

“So far, we’re seeing those crashes are going down and we haven’t really seen an uptick in any place where people are expecting the bikes to be,” said Shimko.

Since 2015, Edmonton has subscribed to a Vision Zero goal: zero seriousinjury collisions. It follows a model first developed in Europe.