City recognizes May as Traffic Safety Month

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — As days get longer and streets get drier, the City has declared May as Traffic Safety Month.

In 2017 there were more than 37,000 collisions in Calgary, more than 2,600 involved individuals being injured, and 11 were fatal.

“In general, our collision rates are slightly lower than many other large cities across Canada,” said Tony Churchill, leader of traffic safety for the City. “For sure compared to national rates we are lower, that, of course, includes a lot of rural highways which are at higher speed and longer time for emergency response.”

Officials are working to lower that number and are encouraging everyone to do their part in keeping our roads safe.

Over the course of the past two years, the University of Calgary conducted an evaluation on how changes to playground start and end times had an impact on safety.

The number of collisions involving pedestrians within the new playground zones decreased by 33%, with a 70% decrease between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

More than half of people knew the exact start time of school and playground zone, whereas 73% knew the end time. More than 80% of the respondents found it easier to remember the zone times with a concrete start and end time.

There are already a number of safety initiatives planned that will take aim at reducing the number of injury-related collisions. Some of those programs include rectangular rapid flashing beacons at crosswalks, traffic calming curbs, different residential speed limits, and more education around safety in playground and construction zones.

For construction zones, some tips include slowing down when there are signs posted, even when there are no workers on site, cooperate with other drivers to keep traffic moving smoothly, and obey speed limits in construction zones as some hazards are not easily visible.

For more tips, visit the City of Calgary website. calgary.ca/trafficsafety.

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