The Greater Sudbury Police Service is committed to enhancing road safety in Greater Sudbury and reducing the number of injuries and fatalities on our roadways each year, specifically in relation to pedestrian collisions.
Traffic enforcement alone will not eliminate all pedestrian collisions, the Greater Sudbury Police Service utilizes collision data obtained when investigating incidents to direct patrols and to educate our officers and the public.
Greater Sudbury Police Service are investing time to re-examine pedestrian collisions and have researched collisions from 2012 - 2015, drilling down to better understand the factors that contribute to a pedestrian being struck by a motor vehicle.
For each year, the frequency of certain aspects of collisions was tracked. Here are some interesting trends uncovered in the analysis of our historical collision reports:
Impact Location: Collisions within an intersection have risen from 24% to 50% in the study period.
Location of Collision: Collisions that were intersection related have grown from 19% to 55%.
Traffic Control: Collisions occurring at intersections controlled by Traffic Lights have risen from 22% to 45%.
Pedestrian Action: There was a rise from 18% to 36% in collisions where the pedestrian was crossing without the right-of-way.
The citizens of Greater Sudbury should be aware of the risks associated to walking inatentatively on roadways or parking lots.
Two attentive behaviours which could reduce the likelihood of pedestrian collisions occurring are as follows:
-Drivers must carefully scan the area before setting their vehicle in motion.
-Pedestrians must check for vehicles for their own safety. Although a pedestrian often has the right-of way at an intersection, being struck by a moving vehicle may have devastating consequences.
When examining historical internal data certain information such as colour of clothing, distraction devices and mobility aids were not recorded or captured. This review has revealed a need for the expansion of the current traffic report to include new fields of data, allowing greater insight into collisions involving pedestrians.
The Greater Sudbury Police Service will be the first police service in the province of Ontario to conduct a “
Special Studies” on factors that contribute to pedestrian collisions. Besides already capturing other factual data that contributes to pedestrian collisions such as: speed, improper turns or fail to yield; the “
Special Studies” section on the traffic report will be utilized to capture detailed information not normally considered or required.
As of January 1st, 2016 new information in three categories is being collected in relation to collisions involving pedestrians. The categories captured are as follows:
1 - the presence of any distraction to a pedestrian including, but no limited to, the use of any electronic device or wearing clothing that interferes with sight or sound.
2 - the nature of the clothing worn by a pedestrian, including colour(s) or the use of reflective material
3 - the use of a mobility aid, such as canes, walkers, crutch, wheelchair, skateboard, scooter etc.
This information will help police identify key issues surrounding pedestrian collisions.
Motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users are urged to make safety their top priority at all times as we work together to achieve our goal of making the streets and highways safe in City of Greater Sudbury.