Number of collision injuries in Edmonton drops to 15-year low

While Edmonton’s population continued to boom in 2016, the city saw the lowest number of collision injuries in 15 years.

“This was the first year since we’ve been keeping track where, on average, we did not have someone hospitalized every day of the year as a result of a motor-vehicle collision,” said Gerry Shimko, executive director of Traffic Safety.

“We’ve made significant progress towards Vision Zero Edmonton’s goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries.”

READ MORE: Edmonton upgrades 30 high-risk intersections to reduce collisions 

The 2016 Motor Vehicle Collisions Report shows 325 people were hospitalized and another 2,980 were treated for injuries but not taken to hospital. There were 22 fatal collisions and a total of 23,139 crashes.

That means the collision injury rate for last year was 3.5 per 1,000 population.

READ MORE: Following too closely? Edmonton’s top 10 intersections for crashes 

To compare, in 2002, there were 11,013 injuries caused by crashes, which resulted in an injury rate of 16.3 per 1,000 population.

WATCH: Edmonton says progress being made on Vision Zero

The city analyzes collision data to identify traffic safety issues such as high-collision intersections and places where pedestrians have been hit.

Countermeasures are then put in place, such as protected left-hand turns, upgraded signal lights and road side message boards. Collision data is also used to inform road designs and road rehabilitation projects.

Click here to read Edmonton’s 2016 Motor Vehicle Collisions Report in full.