St. Albert RCMP are concerned with aggressive driving on St. Albert roads.
This comes after the death of an elderly pedestrian struck by a vehicle in front of the Sturgeon Community Hospital at the end of October marked the third vehicle collision death within a month and the sixth so far in 2013.
"I think this is a growing concern just from the standpoint that it certainly isn't something St. Albert has experienced in the past, with six fatalities in one year," said Insp. Kevin Murray of the St. Albert RCMP detachment.
Traffic-related fatalities have averaged one per year since 2005.
"The RCMP and the city are going to work on changing the driving attitudes and behaviours of the motoring public."
Insp. Murray explained officers are noticing that aggressive driving behaviour is becoming more commonplace.
Drivers are taking more risks he said, from speeding, to trying to gain advantage in a lane, changing lanes without signaling, following too closely, rolling through stop signs or not stopping for pedestrians.
"Certainly with winter coming on, the potential for collisions increases as stopping distances are increased and visibility can be impaired. If we're seeing collisions happening on dry, paved roads with clear visibility, that is certainly concerning," noted Insp. Murray.
With traffic volume in the city having increased over the past several years, Insp. Murray stressed that it's incumbent on everyone – drivers and pedestrians – to pay more attention.
"People may still be driving like they did when there was less volume around them. Now with the increased volume there is less room for error," he said.
"(Pedestrians) have to remember that just because you're at a crosswalk, it doesn't mean that you should step out and just expect that vehicles see you and will stop. Certainly in legislation it indicates you have the right of way, but it's incumbent on everyone to be paying attention and to understand that vehicles may not see you."
According to statistics provided by the St. Albert RCMP, despite the increase in traffic volume the number of major injury collisions – where a person had to be admitted to hospital – has remained relatively static from 2003 to 2012 with an average of nine per year. Data from 2007 was excluded as 22 fatal injury collisions were reported – an unexplained "blip" on the RCMP's radar that traffic specialist Cpl. Don Murray said may be due to misclassification.
The number of vehicle collision deaths this year is an aberration, he acknowledged.
"Up until this year we've had very low fatalities statistics, especially for a city of our size. This year excluded, it's remarkable we went almost three years in a row without a fatality," he said.
The City of St. Albert and the RCMP are currently conducting a review of school zones and city traffic including engineering and road design.
The project plan for "Safe Journeys to School", a review of the city's 25 school zones that includes intersection safety, bus safety, speed limits, as well as student, parent and driver education, will be put before council on Dec. 2.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said the city will continue to reinforce traffic safety.
"So often in the community there are pressures to not add photo radar, people don't like the red light cameras, people don't like getting speeding tickets, (we) have tax pressures … I always feel this pressure to do less and less about some of those enforcement things," admitted Crouse.
"There are all these pressures to not improve traffic safety yet here we have fatalities happening. At the end of the day, people expect the mayor and council to make sure there is improvement and I get that."
"I've always taken the position of add more."
Insp. Murray said that despite more traffic enforcements, people have to remember there's a human behind the wheel.
"You can do all the engineering and all the road design, but it's still a human being that controls the movement of that vehicle on the roadway."
Road deaths
Cpl. Murray said this year's fatalities haven't followed a specific pattern, different factors have played a role in each.
The first death of the year occurred in early January when 68-year-old Julie Jans was struck by a car while crossing Bellerose Drive between St. Albert Centre and Safeway on her motorized scooter.
The death of 20-year-old Michael Loft-McLean followed in late February in a two-vehicle collision at St. Albert Trail and Hebert Road.
A 42-year-old St. Albert woman was killed in late August after her motorcycle collided with a pickup truck at Highway 633 and Range Road 260.
In September, six-year-old Thomas Wedman died after he was hit by a school bus on Woodlands Road while on his way to école Marie Poburan School.
Less than two weeks later a 25-year-old construction worker was struck by the back end of a pickup truck driven by another member of his road resurfacing crew at a construction site at Akins Drive and Hebert Road.
On Oct. 21, an 85-year-old woman died after being hit by a car while crossing Boudreau Road in front of the Sturgeon Community Hospital.
Only in the two-vehicle collision have criminal charges been laid against two men and is before the courts. The charges include impaired operation of a motor vehicle, possession of marijuana and operating a vehicle at an unreasonable rate of speed.
Cpl. Murray wants to remind drivers to slow down and be more alert. "I think St. Albert has traditionally been low crime and a safe community. I wonder sometimes if people take that for granted and have a false sense of security, thinking that bad things don't happen here."
"Road safety is a community responsibility, not just a police issue," he said.
"The fact that we have had six traffic fatalities this year shows that we're not immune from tragedy here in St. Albert."
