Safe Speed Forums

Speeding barely a factor in crashes
By MICHAEL PLATT, Calgary Sun
Last Updated: September 14, 2010 5:28pm

If it isn’t a cash cow, it sure stinks like something a herd of heifers left behind.

Thousands of speeding tickets worth millions in extra revenue for the province, yet when the statistics on crashes are released, speeding is nowhere to be found.

The 2009 Alberta Traffic Collision Statistics do say plenty about collisions, and exactly why we have them.

Following too close, running off the road, turning across path of oncoming traffic, failing to yield to pedestrians.

All these, and many more, make up the detailed list explaining exactly why Alberta motorists were involved in 10,809 casualty collisions last year.

The charts cover time of day, weather, type of vehicle — even age and sex of the driver.

Yet in 93-pages of meticulous information, there is no mention of speed, despite it being the number one safety concern on Alberta roads, if we judge by the number of tickets written.

On highways alone, Sheriffs and RCMP issued fines worth $111 million between April 2009 and March 2010, with over 80% of those tickets from speeding. It’s a similar story in cities and towns.

So where are the statistics showing the danger of putting the pedal to the metal?

It seems the province left speeding out of the new report on traffic collision statistics, and it takes a special request to Alberta Transportation to get a copy of the relevant document.

When the report arrives, entitled “Driver Error Pie 2009,” it’s easy to see why it went missing from the main report.

As well as nifty pie chart, it contains the truth about speeding. And the truth is, only six crashes out of every hundred involve speeding.

It’s a flabbergasting fact, given the endless propaganda paid to speeding as a serious danger to the public, and the multitude of equipment and manpower devoting to stopping those who break the limit.

Solicitor General Frank Oberle said as much Tuesday, when the collision stats were released.

“Law enforcement’s visibility on our roads serves as a constant reminder to aggressive drivers and speeders that high-risk driving will not be tolerated,” said Oberle.

Aggressive drivers, sure. But the government’s own numbers show speeding isn’t a major cause of wrecks.

The exact wording, from Alberta Transportation, is thus: “Speed – 6.2% of total collisions involved one or more drivers indicated by the police as having been travelling at a speed too great for the given conditions.”

True, when speeders do crash, it isn’t pretty, and the report says speed is a factor in three out of ten fatal crashes, a number that’s been made public before.

But it’s that hidden figure, 6.2%, where things no longer add up. Frankly, it stinks.

From the photo radar in our cities, to the sheriffs scribbling fines on our highways, Alberta’s anti-speeding campaign is focused on a factor present in a paltry percentage of crashes.

If safety were the real concern, police resources would be spent on preventing tailgaters, or monitoring crosswalks.

Of course, it’s vastly more lucrative to fine drivers who break the speed limit, even though the province’s own statistics suggest more lives would be saved if police focused on bad driving.

A cash cow? A waste of time, in any case.

Getting those in power to admit that police would be more effective without the radar gun isn’t easy.

As Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette spoke to the overall reduction in annual fatalities and injuries, he wasn’t keen to suggest police should refocus their efforts.

Ouellette did say the upcoming distracted driving legislation, which will ban mobile phones, lipstick and other driving diversions, won’t be enforced the way speed laws are.

“I don’t want this bill to turn into a policeman sitting behind a billboard, watching to see if someone takes a bite of a sandwich,” said Ouellette.

“We told the police, we want you to use this as a tool to make our roads safer.”

In fact, Alberta’s police already have the tools to make out roads safer, in the form of keen observation, good judgement, and ticket books.

But first, officers need permission to hang up the radar guns, and focus on the real danger on our roads.

Clearly, it isn’t speeding.