Each year Calgary's 40,000 traffic collisions kill 40+ people and injure over 4,000. The cost in property damage is between $500 million and $1 billion. Lost man-hours to business because of the resulting traffic delays runs into the millions of dollars
a year. Basically traffic crashes cause more death, injury and damage than all crimes combined.
The worst crime about traffic collisions is that most are completely avoidable with a little more common sense and better adherence to traffic laws. Speeding, impaired driving, and carelessness are the most common factors that contribute to serious collisions. At present Calgary police issue over 400,000 tickets a year. That is a lot of tickets but yet the problem remains. So what we are doing is not working.
For years I have recommended changes to how traffic enforcement works in Calgary.
First we need to get out of the fishing holes (places where infractions are frequent because there is little risk of a collision). Construction zones where there is no construction. Playground where there has not be kids playing for years.
Second we need to include bylaw officers in the traffic enforcement. For most police officers writing traffic tickets is something they do when they are not busy doing something else. Rightly so. For bylaw officers it would be one of their main duties.
