Breaking down the numbers and data on intersection collisions in Whitecourt

Whitecourt Town Council received an update on collisions in the community, including the highway corridors, during their June 14 regular meeting. Each month the RCMP provides collision information to the Town of Whitecourt, and the report provided at the meeting was a compilation of the data received through the last six years. “This is done annually to identify trends or hot spots in the community that might require us to look at. As the RFD (Request for Decision) indicates, we would be forwarding the report to the Protective Services Committee for their comments also,” prefaced CAO Peter Smyl before handing off the reigns to Michael Harper, Civil Engineering Technologist.

“More or less this past year, collisions were way down along with traffic counts on the highway. Photo radar was back up closer to the average amount,” explained Harper. Radar statistics show that the numbers are up 47 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. However, compared to 2018, radar enforcements are much lower. In 2018, there were 11,238 offences through photo radar. In 2019, there were 6,588. In 2020, there were 9,714, which might seem odd considering restrictions, work-from-home orders, and business closures.

Councillor Schlosser questioned the radar portion of the presentation. “Part of the reason for the radar was that we were hoping to see a decrease in collisions. When I’m looking at the highway corridor collisions that we have, in 2015, we had 40, and then the numbers sort of peaked around 2018, and they’ve gone a little bit down. I guess where I am going with this is that it’s getting a little difficult to make the argument that photo radar is decreasing the number of accidents. Am I correct in that, or am I reading the data incorrectly? I just don’t see what I first saw when we first introduced photo radar. It seemed it did have a difference, and now it seems like the collisions are up. Maybe that is due to the volume of traffic, and I know it went down in 2020, but can you help me understand that?” CAO Peter Smyl explained that before 2015, collision numbers were higher, and the implementation of photo radar had brought in a considerable reduction.

Highway 43 intersections remain high for collisions, more so than town intersections. The report showed that in 2020 there were 28 collisions at Highway 43 intersections, with the highest, eight, taking place at the Dahl Drive/Pine Road/Highway 43 intersection. These collisions also resulted in at least one injured person. The Dahl Drive/Pine Road/Highway 43 intersection consistently results in injuries, as does the 51 Street/Highway 43 intersection. Both spots featured the highest number of injury-causing collisions. The highest year for Highway 43 intersection collisions on the six years outlined was 2017 with 51, followed by 2018 with 45. In 2019, there were 36 collisions.

In town, there were eleven collisions at key intersections. That is down considerably from 2019 when there were 26. The most active spots in 2020, with three a piece, were the Dahl Drive/52 Avenue intersection and the 51 Street/49 Avenue intersection. These spots are two of the busiest town-controlled intersections in Whitecourt. Although higher than other areas, the numbers from 2020 do not show a higher average than previous years. The report outlined that the Planning and Infrastructure Departments reviewed the locations and felt that there wasn’t a need for a fix just yet as most collisions happened in the winter. Weather conditions could have been contributing factors.

One of the most significant numbers on the report had to do with collisions in parking lots. “Hit and runs continue to be our highest number accounting for 25 percent of the accidents this past year,” explained Harper. Though lower than previous years, in 2020, there were 35 parking lot incidents. In 2019, there were 38. In comparison, 2017 saw 56 parking lot infractions, and 2018 saw 55.

Traffic volume on Highway 43 from 2016 to 2020 was also provided in the report. Numbers showed lower numbers in 2020, as expected. Data was collected at the intersection of 51 Street/Highway 43 and the Dahl Drive/Highway 43 intersection, including both east and west directions. The combined number of travellers heading west in 2020 was 25,670. Eastbound travellers, again combined, were 27,250. By comparison, in 2019, the combined totals for east travellers was 32,970, and west was 30,730.

The report summarized that collision numbers from 2020 were down 32 percent from the previous year, and of those, the most significant decrease came from town-controlled intersections within the community. The report was forwarded to the Protective Services Committee and Alberta Transportation to go over the information. Councillor Ray Hilts asked that any information that arises be provided back to council at a later date.