Traffic-related deaths, injuries down in 2019, Edmonton report shows

The City of Edmonton released its 2019 Vision Zero report on Friday and, according to the city’s statistics, Edmonton streets are getting safer.

Vision Zero was launched in 2015 with the goal to have zero traffic-related serious injuries and fatalities by 2032.

Since 2015, fatalities on Edmonton streets are down 56 per cent and serious injuries are down 30 per cent. In 2019, there were 14 traffic fatalities and 268 serious injuries, compared to 19 fatalities and 319 serious injuries the year before.

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Last year, the city upgraded 87 locations with traffic safety improvements.

Almost $4 million was spent on improving 23 crosswalks, while $1.1 million was spent on traffic signal improvements.

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There were fewer pedestrian and motorcycle collisions in 2019 compared to 2018, while the number of bicycle collisions remained the same, though has steadily dropped since the program was introduced

In 2019 alone, $1.3 million was spent on traffic signal improvements at schools.

Twenty-six schools across the city received new zebra crosswalks, stop signs instead of yield signs, yellow centre line markings when the street was wide enough, retro-reflective sleeves added to stop signs and crosswalk poles and flashing beacons at the school’s crosswalk if there wasn’t already one.

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Excessive speeding and collisions at speed enforcement sites are also down, according to the data. Excessive speeding violations dropped 25 per cent compared to 2018 and total collisions at mobile speed enforcement sites dropped 16 per cent.

Intersection Safety Devices — more commonly referred to as “speed on green” cameras — were installed at 37 new locations based on collision numbers. Collisions at those sites were reduced by 10 per cent last year.

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The City of Edmonton analyzes the traffic data three ways.

Crash causes are identified by analyzing Edmonton Police Service collision reports. The city identifies historical trends, the severity of crashes, types of road users involved, location, traffic controls and primary causes of collisions.

Then resulting problem locations, environmental factors and road user behaviours are used to explore safety improvement through engineering, enforcement, education or a combination of those three.

In total, the city spent $56.8 million on traffic safety last year. That money comes from fines collected through automated enforcement, the city said, and added city policy dedicates this reserve be used for traffic safety initiatives.