Data and design are key to preventing collisions, Hamilton officials say after annual road report

A new annual report shows there are fewer collisions on Hamilton's roadways, but city staff acknowledge more must be done.

In 2022, there were 16 fatal collisions in the city, the same number as in 2021. From 2018 to 2022, an average of one fatality occurred every 23 days. 

"The annual collision report as a whole is a way for us to inform the public and hold ourselves accountable to make sure that we're working to achieve the principles of Vision Zero," Mike Field, Hamilton's manager of transportation operations said. "It's a really important document for us to inform what we're doing as a municipality."

Vision Zero is an international road safety program designed to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries. Hamilton adopted it in 2019. 

The report notes that between the term of this year's report (2018-2022), and last year's report (2017-2021):

• Total collisions decreased by 1.69 per cent to 8,151

• Injury collisions decreased by 8.3 per cent 1,295

• Fatal collisions did not change, holding at 16

• Pedestrian collisions decreased by 3.3 per cent to 213

• Cyclist collisions decreased by 7.9 per cent to 140

It states that between 2018 and 2022:

• One collision occured every 65 minutes

• One person was injured every eight hours

• Someone died every 23 days

• One collision involved a pedestrian every two days

• One collision involved a cyclist every three days

Last year, public concern over road safety led to a number of ongoing and proposed changes. These include lights for pedestrians changing before lights for drivers at some intersections, and the conversion of Main Street to two-way traffic – on which a report will go before council this November. 

Public Works' 2022 annual collision report covers collisions on city-wide roadways, the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway, and the Red Hill Valley Parkway. Field and director of transportation Carolyn Ryall spoke with CBC News to break down the findings. 

Ryall noted that the pandemic changed traffic patterns. Volume decreased and so too did total collisions. Driver behaviour also seems to have changed, she said. "We've had a lot more complaints for example around aggressive driving and speeding," — which she says the city will continue to assess and respond to. Next year, Ryall says, it'll be clearer what effects COVID-19 has had on the roads, with volume likely closer to pre-pandemic levels. 

In presenting the report to City Council's Public Works Committee on Oct. 2, Ryall noted Main Street — the multi-lane arterial road bisecting Hamilton's lower city — continues to have a high frequency of collisions. John Street South at Main Street East saw 28 collisions between 2018 and 2022, the most of any intersection in Hamilton. Main Street East's intersections with Wellington Street South and Victoria Avenue South also cracked the top-10 list for collisions. 

Officials have identified Main Street, which includes a long one-way stretch downtown, as emblematic of an older style of roadway planning that prioritized the efficient movement of vehicles — often to the detriment of pedestrians and cyclists. This stands in contrast to the new "Complete Streets" framework council approved last year, which emphasizes multiple modes of transportation, safety and the environment. 

Field said Main Street has seen more sideswipe collisions than any other corridor in Hamilton, and people generally drive quickly on it. "The fast speed of cars jockeying for position as they travel down the corridor all coming together and you couple that with a downtown environment where there's a lot of pedestrians. … It just creates that many more opportunities for conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists."

However, Field said the past year's changes on Main have led "a marked increase in safety," and "a reduction of around 40 per cent of total collisions in that corridor."

One important thing to remember about collisions, Field said, is that in most cases where cars hit pedestrians or cyclists, the people walking or biking get hurt.

The report states collisions involving vulnerable road users result in injury about 89 per cent of the time for pedestrians and about 78 per cent of the time for cyclists.

On Monday, the Public Works Committee discussed the value of design in improving road safety, considering measures such as preventing right turns on red lights to reduce the opportunity for collisions. 

Ryall says it's critical. "Designing roads from our lens when we're looking from a safety perspective is key to how we want all vehicle types and all users on the roadway to safely be able to operate on it."

Field credits Vision Zero with a phrase he likes to use: "In every situation a person might fail but the road system shouldn't. … People make mistakes and the design of the road system shouldn't result in their injury and death. That's the new way of thinking."