By Barbara Roden
Road safety in British Columbia is the focus of a report released on March 31 by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall.
Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Reducing the Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes on Health and Well-being in B.C. uses data from a wide variety of sources to show where the province stands in the matter of road safety, and offers 28 recommendations to achieve lower rates of fatalities and serious injuries.
The report notes the danger to vulnerable road users, such as cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians, accounted for one-third of road fatalities in 2013.
One key recommendation was that urban centres’ speed limits be dropped to 30 km/h from the current 50 km/h rate.
Kendall explained data shows the odds of a vulnerable road user surviving an accident involving a vehicle travelling at 30 km/h are 80 to 90 per cent. The survival rate drops to 15 to 20 per cent when the vehicle is travelling 50 km/h.
However, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Todd Stone was quick to rule out this option.
He noted that lowering default speed limits to 40 km/h was debated at last year’s Union of B.C. Municipalities conference, where it was resoundingly defeated.
Stone said there would have to be a significant change in the position of local governments before he would consider reducing the default speed limit.
Stone also shot down of the report’s recommendation to re-introduce photo radar speed enforcement. The highways minister described the previous photo radar program as a “largely failed” one that was little more than a tax grab.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, who presented highlights from the report, noted that while there has been a 42.6 per cent reduction in fatalities on B.C. roads in the past 20 years, there has been no decrease in cyclist and pedestrian fatalities.
There’s room for substantial improvement, Henry said, adding a disproportionate number of First Nations people are affected.
Speeding and driving too fast for conditions were the top contributors to road fatalities.
Noting impaired driving has been reduced dramatically in recent years, Henry said it is still a factor. She added distracted driving is on the increase, and is an area that needs more attention.
The report states rural and remote communities are among the populations that suffer the heaviest burden of road traffic fatalities.
Longer travelling distances, lack of public transit, wildlife on the road, and the fact that emergency services may take longer to reach accident sites all contribute to more fatalities in these areas, the report noted.
Other recommendations include: extending the required zero (0.00) blood alcohol content for new drivers beyond the completion of the Graduated Licensing Program to age 25; improving the capacity to identify all types of impaired driving, including drugs; prioritizing pedestrian and cyclist health and safety in roadway and intersection design; implementing a vehicle safety testing program that requires regular basic vehicle safety checks as a condition of vehicle insurance; and continuing to support the First Nations Health Authority to develop an Aboriginal injury prevention strategy.
Barbara Roden is the Ashcroft Cache Creek Journal editor.
