EDMONTON -- The city’s Vision Zero initiative is showing a drop in traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
In a joint statement Tuesday, city officials and Edmonton police revealed that since 2015, fatal collisions have decreased by 56 per cent while serious injuries have dropped by 30 per cent.
Officials say those numbers put the city on track to reach its Vision Zero goal of no traffic fatilities and serious injuries by 2032.
However, despite a decrease in traffic volume because of the COVID-19 pandemic, EPS officals say there has been an increase in speeding in city neighbourhoods and along major roadways.
“In the last six weeks, I guess we’ve had speeding issues of 138 vehicles intercepted travelling 50 kilometres and higher over the speed limit,” said Sgt. Kerry Bates. "With some doubling to 100 and as high as 200 kilometres an hour, so it’s good timing for this targeted enforcement.”
Earlier this year, city council voted to lower the speed limit to 40 kilometres per hour on residential streets.
“When we put together the estimated time of arrival tool, when we were looking at speed limit reduction, we took a look at what driving 10 kilometres an hour slower on roads would do to impact travel time,” said Jessica Lamarre, Director of Traffic Safety for the City of Edmonton. “It’s frequently less than a minute.”
According to the city, 87 locations across the city have been improved including 23 crosswalks and 37 new devices at intersections to monitor red light and speeding infractions.
Lamarre says extreme speeding could negatively affect Visions Zero’s goal should it persist. The increase of speeding on city streets is also causing more unnecessary vehicle noise.
Visions Zero’s entire 2019 Annual Report will be released later this week.
