AFTERNOONS SEE MOST COLLISIONS

Research says focus falls midday

REGINA — Take care driving home from work — you are more likely to be involved in a traffic collision in the late afternoon and evening.

No matter the day of the week, more drivers are admitted to hospitals because they are involved in crashes between 4 p.m. and midnight, says new data released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

“There will be local variation, but people usually finish work late in the afternoon and they are heading home,” said Claire Marie Fortin, CIHI’s manager of clinical registries. “They may have to pick up the kids from day care or they have to run an errand or get home for dinner ... People are more tired and less focused for a variety of reasons.”

Collisions peak on Friday nights, she said.

“That suggests that many people might be stopping off on the way home and having a drink or two,” Fortin said.

SGI data from a 2011 report confirms Friday was the most collision-prone day of the week in Saskatchewan. The highest frequency of traffic collisions occurred Friday afternoons between 4 and 6 p.m.

Driver inattention and distraction, inexperience or confusion and alcohol impairment were the most frequently identified humanrelated factors contributing to casualty collisions in Saskatchewan in 2011, according to SGI.

That year, there were 138 fatal collisions with 150 people killed. Vehicle occupants who did not buckle up were 10 times more likely to be killed than those who wore a seatbelt.

Among the provinces, Saskatchewan had the highest hospitalization rate for traffic collisions — 72 per 100,000 people among the provinces in 2010-11. Only the Yukon was higher at 111 hospitalizations per 100,000.

However, Fortin cautioned Saskatchewan’s rate must be put in context. In 2010-11, 745 people were hospitalized due to motor vehicle collisions compared to 4,100 in Ontario and 3,407 in Quebec.

Saskatchewan drivers most often hospitalized in 201011 were 20- to 24-year-olds (54), followed by 15- to 19-yearolds (41) and 30- to 34-year-olds (41). Those 65 to 89 years accounted for 62 of the 407 hospitalizations in 2010.

“The data speaks to young men primarily being at greater risk of motor vehicle collisions and that seniors are getting some bad press that they don’t really deserve,” Fortin said.

Between 2006 and 2011, the number of people hospitalized with motor vehicle injuries in Saskatchewan ranged between 700 and 800.

“That’s staying somewhat constant and that’s against the trend in the country,” Fortin said.

She hopes the CIHI report will highlight patterns that will inform traffic collision prevention efforts and keep citizens safe.

“By talking about the impact of motor vehicle collisions, we’re hoping to alert drivers, passengers, individuals, pedestrians — everyone who is out in the street — to be more vigilant and hope that people take on the notion that from 4 p.m. and midnight, they are at greater risk,” Fortin said. “They need to be more focused, less distracted.”