Safer Streets: Traffic Safety in Edmonton
As of October 6, 28 Edmontonians have died on our roads in 2009.
Edmontonians have consistently rated traffic safety as one of their highest priorities, and with good reason. Traffic safety is a quality of life issue: dangerous drivers put us and our children at risk, they make our streets less walkable and less friendly for cyclists, and they make us feel unsafe.
Edmonton’s Approach: Integrated Action
The City of Edmonton is taking an integrated approach to traffic safety – we know that to make a real difference, we need to combine education, enforcement, and changes to physical infrastructure.
Based on the best research available, Edmonton’s strategy includes several initiatives:
- Safe Speed Vans: these are highly visible photo radar vans, designed to slow drivers down through both education and enforcement.
- Red Light and Speed Cameras: the City is rolling out new red light cameras that can also catch speeders while the light is green.
- Ticket Blitzes: starting in 2008, the Police have run a series of 24-hour enforcement blitzes, resulting in thousands of tickets.
- Signs and Speed Boards: at communities’ request, we can install signs to advise drivers to slow down, watch for children, etc., or boards that display the speed of oncoming vehicles.
- Curb Extensions: the City can install permanent or temporary barriers to narrow streets. This is proven to slow traffic in neighbourhoods.
- Curb the Danger: this program encourages citizens to call 911 if they see a driver who may be impaired. Police have received over 15,000 calls, leading to 1500 charges and 300 license suspensions.
The Way Ahead: Reducing Speed
In March 2009, I attended the International Conference on Urban Traffic Safety, and heard from world-leading experts. Their key message was that speed is the single biggest danger on our roads.
Most drivers have no idea how important speed is to their safety.
For example, in a typical 60 km/h zone, for every 5 km/h over the speed limit a vehicle travels, the risk of being involved in a casualty collision doubles. That’s a very large increase in risk for a very small increase in speed.
In neighbourhoods, the risks are even greater. Let’s look at the difference between driving 30 km/h in a neighbourhood and driving 50 km/h, the current speed limit:
- At 50 km/h, your stopping distance is about 23m, or about 75 feet. That means that if a pedestrian steps onto the road 50 feet ahead of you, even you see him/her immediately you won’t be able to stop in time. At 30 km/h, your stopping distance is 13m, or about 40 feet.
- A pedestrian struck at 50 km/h has only a 10% chance of survival. A pedestrian struck at 30 km/h has a 90% chance of survival.
On October 6, 2009, Council’s Transportation and Public Works Committee directed City staff to prepare a pilot program to reduce the residential speed limit in a small number of neighbourhoods. This could be the first step toward Edmonton joining cities like Montreal and Dublin in reducing residential speed limits citywide.
Further reading
- The City's Traffic Safety Strategy
City of Edmonton October 06 2009
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