The OPP have released the results of a ten year study regarding fatal collisions. The main causal factors are broken down into what the report calls the “Big Four.” They include alcohol/drug related incidents, inattentive related (such as texting), speed related, and no seatbelt or, in the case of a motorcycle, no helmet.
In a release, deputy commissioner Brad Blair, provincial commander of traffic safety and operational support, said the purpose of sharing collision and fatality data is to show the extent to which driving behaviour contributes to road deaths.
“As we have said before, regardless of how hard the OPP works to reduce the number of lives lost in road collisions, we cannot do this alone,” says Blair. “Ontarians need to understand what we learn from this data, which is that the vast majority of the people who have died on our roads did not have to die.”
Overall the results found that twice as many men die in collisions when compared to their female counterparts with adult men between the ages of 25 and 34 accounting for 397 deaths on Ontario Roads. Of those, 310 of the men were the drivers involved in the accident with only 60 passenger deaths.
Transport trucks were also found to be a major concern on our roadways – 696 deaths were contributed to transport trucks, with 604 of those deaths being the occupants of the other vehicle.
There is some good news though – children are safer now than they were ten years ago. The first few years of the survey proved to be some of the roughest times for young passengers, but in 2014 only 4 deaths were credited to the ‘Under 16′ category, and just 16 deaths in the ’16 to 19’ age group – a ten year low.
OPP say the most important take away from the survey is the importance of seat belts. They say it’s one of the few factors a passenger can control, and it’s up to the passengers to open a dialogue about road safety with the driver.
LOOKING AT THE OVERALL NUMBERS IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS
265 The number of fatal road crashes across the province in 2014 that were investigated by OPP.
46 Deaths alcohol/drug related
73 Inattention-related deaths
61 Speeding-related deaths
50 No seatbelt or helmet
45 The number of fatal collisions in Eastern Ontario
8 Deaths alcohol/drug related
9 Inattention-related deaths
6 Speeding-related deaths
5 No seatbelt or helmet
SOURCE: OPP
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