2008 Ottawa Road Safety Report [ PDF 592KB ]
2008 Statistics
- 485,973 registered vehicles (3% increase from 2007)
- 626,000 licensed drivers (1% increase from 2006)
- 15,638 total collisions on all federal, provincial and municipal roadways within city limits (2% decrease from 2007)
- 30 deaths from collisions in Ottawa: 10 drivers, 7 passengers, 10 pedestrians and 3 motorcycle drivers (25% decrease from 2007)**
- 4,115 people injured in collisions: 2,393 drivers, 1,031 passengers, 333 pedestrians, 262 cyclists, 82 motorcycle drivers and 14 motorcycle passengers
- 3,626 calls for paramedic response to vehicle collisions: 1,733 patients treated and transported to hospital
- 2,516 number of red light camera violations
- 83,000 aggressive driving charges (approximation from Ottawa Police, OPP and RCMP)
- $828 million Estimated social cost of Ottawa’s 2008 traffic collisions
The Red Zone
Top 10 Collision Locations
| West Hunt Club Road and Woodroffe Avenue |
51 |
| Hunt Club Road and Riverside Drive |
43 |
| Hawthorne Road and Walkley Road |
39 |
| Belfast Road and St. Laurent Boulevard |
37 |
| Heron Road and Riverside Drive |
35 |
| Coventry Road and St. Laurent Boulevard |
35 |
| Baseline Road and Woodroffe Avenue |
34 |
| Prince of Whales Drive and West Hunt Club Road |
32 |
| Innes Road and Tenth Line Road |
31 |
| Industrial Avenue and St. Laurent Boulevard |
31 |
Source: City of Ottawa Reportable Collision Records – Ottawa Police Service, O.P.P., and RCMP
*Corresponds with Transport Canada’s Vision 2010 30% targets and does not factor in population increase.
** Difference not statistically significant.
2008 Integrated Road Safety Program (IRSP) Achievements
- The IRSP’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) ran its fifth year of conducting monthly education and enforcement campaigns.
- Ottawa Public Health nurses teamed with Ottawa Police Services to conduct two roadside child car seat safety check campaigns.
- High collision intersections, identified through the City’s Safety Improvement Program, received targeted education and enforcement.
- Organized R.I.D.E. check points in partnership with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Ottawa and the Ottawa Alliance on Impaired Driving.
- Conducted ongoing outreach to parents of teenagers to support them in developing safe young drivers in partnership with Young Drivers of Canada.
- Initiated on-street education and enforcement campaigns to increase pedestrian and cycling safety.
- Celebrated Safe Kids Week, a national campaign to highlight the importance of child pedestrian safety – included safety fairs, community walkabouts and traffic ticket envelopes featuring traffic safety illustrations by children.
- City traffic engineers and Ottawa Police worked collaboratively to address Top Ten Collision intersection concerns.
- Conducted an initiative to increase traffic safety in construction zones. Radio ads aired in partnership with the Ontario Road Builders’ Association.
- Re-profiled the Speeding Costs You Deerly campaign, an awareness campaign to reduce speeding on high-risk roads for deer-vehicle collisions. See results below.
- Conducted major awareness campaigns to decrease speeding and tailgating. See campaign details and results below.
Aggressive Driving: A Major Focus for IRSP in 2008
In 2007, aggressive driving or driver error contributed to 80 per cent of Ottawa’s traffic fatalities. Responding to a need for greater education and enforcement relating to aggressive driving, the IRSP placed a major focus on speeding and tailgating last year.
Speeding Costs You Campaign
The 16-week campaign made use of television and radio ads, bus boards, radar equipped speed display boards, and temporary “Speeding? Zero Tolerance!” road signs. It also included the distribution of thousands of information cards, outlining vital statistics and consequences of speeding, to motorists and residents in high-risk areas. Pre-campaign publicity included an invitation on the web to share personal accounts of how individuals have been affected by crashes due to speeding.
While speed-related collisions during the campaign remained on pace with figures from the previous year, pre and post-campaign speed compliance surveys revealed that operating speeds decreased by up to ten per cent. A total of 9,935 speeding offences were issued during the campaign.
Back Off! Campaign
The eight-week campaign, which highlighted how to apply the two seconds between vehicles rule, included television and radio ads, permanent road signs at high-risk locations and the handing out of thousands of information cards to motorists with tips on how to prevent rear-end collisions.
During the campaign, rear-end collisions decreased by five per cent compared to figures from the previous year. A total of 235 following too close charges were laid.
Speeding Costs You Deerly Campaign Continues to be a Success
Deer-vehicle collisions decreased by 38 per cent while the IRSP’s Speeding Costs You Deerly campaigns ran in the fall of 2006, 2007 and 2008. Between 2003 and 2005, the average number of deer-vehicle collisions during the months of October and November – the peak period for the movement of deer – was 344. The number dropped to 298 in the fall of 2006, 236 in the fall of 2007 and further dropped to 214 last fall. These collision reductions result in an estimated social cost savings of $1.1 million.
Assistance from Community Partners
The IRSP’s campaign planning was assisted by CAA North & East Ontario, MTO and Young Drivers of Canada.
