A new report from the Provincial Health Officer (PHO) of British Columbia, entitled Where the Rubber Meets the Road, looks at motor vehicle crashes (MVC) in B.C. and their impact on our health and wellness. The report explores road safety using a safe system framework, examining four pillars: technologies and strategies for improving road safety related to road user behaviours and conditions; speed limits; vehicle technologies; and roadway design and infrastructure.
First, some background. Each year B.C. roads see some 280 deaths and 79,000 injuries (based on 2012 data). Big numbers, but they actually reflect an improvement on 20 years ago. In 1996 there were 18.4 deaths per 100,000 population; in 2012, that was down to 6.2. Of these fatalities, proportionately more occur in Northern Health and Interior Health regions. In the Vancouver Coastal Health region, the number was 2.3 per 100,000. Those aged 16 to 25 and 76 or over have the highest MVC fatality and serious injury rates.
The top human contributing factors for MVCs with fatalities were speed, distraction and impairment in that order, speed accounting for 36 per cent of them. Environmental and vehicle conditions also contribute, but we will focus on speed as a key factor in motor vehicle crashes.
Established research shows a clear relationship between safe speeds and road safety. This is based on two simple truths: with more speed comes less reaction time; and more speed means higher physical force that increases the risk of serious injury and death. The faster a vehicle is moving, the less time there is for a driver to react and the longer the stopping distance, both of which lead to more crashes. And the risk of serious injury in an MVC doubles for every five kilometres per hour in travel speeds above 60 km/h.
The susceptibility of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists adds a further element of danger: there is a 90 per cent chance of survival if a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle going 30 km/h, but only 20 per cent survive if struck at 50 km/h.
Most people claim to speed because it will get them to their destination sooner, believing that by speeding up, they will save an average of 26 seconds per trip. Reality is not so generous. One study that followed 106 drivers over 3,049 driving hours found they saved an average of 26 seconds – not per trip, but per day!
Among the recommendations from the PHO’s report are several relating to speed. First would be to amend the B.C. Motor Vehicle Act to reduce default speed limit on roads within municipalities to a maximum of 30 km/h from the current 50 km/h. Limits should also be set in regards to road and weather conditions and to increase driver awareness and education.
We know that a person has a much better chance at 30 km/h so we should be reviewing local speed limits to reflect the increased survivability at that speed.
