Released on Monday, the city’s most recent annual collision report reveals 19.1 per cent of all fatal and injury collisions in Hamilton between 2017 and 2021 were the result of inattentive driving. Difficult to fully verify, police estimate the actual percentage to be much higher.
As part of the municipality’s ongoing Vision Zero initiative, the City of Hamilton’s Department of Public Works recently released its annual roadway collision report.
While the pandemic continued to suppress overall road traffic, and thereby collisions relative to all pre-COVID years from the last decade, 2021 saw a 2.9 per cent increase in accidents compared to 2020, and a 23 per cent increase in collision-related fatalities year-over-year.
In total, Hamilton registered 6,813 collisions in 2021, of which 1,177 caused injury and 16 of which caused death.
Males accounted for nearly two-out-of-three collisions in 2021. While the 20- to 34-year-old age bracket accounted for 34 per cent of all collisions.
According to the report, though it can be difficult to assess contributing behavioural factors fully and accurately, based on observations made by police officers, distracted driving led to at least 18.4 per cent of all collisions, and 19.1 per cent of fatal and injury collisions between 2017 and 2021, a 2.4 per cent increase from 2016 to 2020.
An alarming trend seen across the entire country in recent years, distracted driving is now the leading behavioural cause of death on Hamilton’s roadways, a greater contributor than either substance impairment or speeding.
“Being distracted when driving can mean the difference between someone getting to their destination safely and a missing seat at the dinner table,” Chief of Hamilton Police Service Frank Bergen said in a statement Monday. “Hamilton Police continue to focus on curbing driving behaviours like using a cell phone when driving, speeding and aggressive driving but we need everyone to do their part.”
Mike Field, the municipality’s acting director of transportation operations and maintenance, said that while city staff and police are working hard to protect Hamilton’s thoroughfares, road safety is a city-wide responsibility, with authorities and motorists both playing an important role.
“We look to Hamilton residents to always be fully attentive while driving and pay close attention to the speed limit, other road users, oncoming traffic and traffic signs and signals.”
According to the city’s report, in 2021 the largest number of collisions took place in January and between the months of October and December. In line with provincial trends, more collisions took place on Friday than any other day of the work week, with a strong correlation between peak periods of traffic and the number of collisions.
The vast majority of collisions occurred during dry surface conditions (76.4 per cent) and in the daylight (66.4 per cent), slightly above and below the provincial average for each category, respectively.
On open road surfaces, single motor vehicle accidents constituted 42.5 per cent of total collisions, followed by rear-end accidents at 22.4 per cent.
Conversely, at signalized intersections, rear-end accidents made up the largest share of collisions at 42.7 per cent, with sideswipes constituting 20.5 per cent of all accidents at traffic-light intersections.
The intersections with the highest motor vehicle collision frequency between 2017 and 2021 were, in order: John Street South at Main Street East (28), Main Street East at Wellington Street South (26), and Fennel Avenue West at Upper James Street (24).
The road segments with the highest collision frequency over the same timeframe were: Red Hill Valley Parkway Northbound between Ramp King to Red Hill Valley Parkway Northbound and Ramp Red Hill Valley Parkway Northbound to King Street (21), Queenston Road between Nash Road and 533 Queenston Road (20), and Upper James Street between Lotus Avenue and Mohawk Road East (17).
A recent survey from the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) revealed that almost eight-out-of-10 drivers (79 per cent) have driven distracted in the past.
Local authorities are asking motorists to do their part by refraining from texting, taking phone calls, scrolling social media, eating, or drinking while behind the wheel. They are also reminding drivers to ensure any entertainment, GPS directions, Bluetooth, and child needs are set before departure.
In Ontario, using a handheld device such as a cellphone while driving carries a $155 fine and three demerit points.
