Fewer crashes in Hamilton under COVID-19, but dangerous driving made them worse: report

While there were fewercrashes on Hamilton streets in2020, the city says a higher proportion of them ended with people seriously injured.

According to the City of Hamilton's annual collision report, crashes decreased by 33.2 per cent as compared to 2019.It's the first timein the past 10 years that crashes haven't increased in Hamilton.

But the COVID-19 pandemicslashed morning and afternoon rush hour traffic the times when most crashes occurin half, city officials say.

"The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way people travelled around the city, or rather didn't travel," said Mike Field, acting director of transportation operations and maintenance in a public works meeting on Wednesday.

When crashes did happen, they were more frequently serious ones even despite the overall number of deaths and injuries dropping by 22.5 per cent compared to the previous year,a decline that's been happening since2016.

"It's no comfort at all to anyone walking or cycling," said Randy Kay, who calls himself an active transportation advocate.

"You know that if you're involved...it's going to be bad."

Kay isn't surprised by the severity, saying Hamiltonians are consistently sharing their frustrations on social media about hearing cars and motorcycles racing along the streets. He says he sees trucks "thundering" down roads, barely coming to a stop in time for the red lights.

"I see really reckless behaviour...it seems to have gotten worse, potentially," Kay said.

The city pointed to previous observations from local police and Ontario Provincial Police, which both attribute a rise in theseverity of crashesto careless driving and speeding. Theprovincial numbers for 2020 crashes aren't available yet.

There were1,558 people who were injured in 1,149 collisions in Hamilton, and among those 13 people died. Five of those are around Ward 8, the west/central Mountain area.

Those deaths includedseven occupants of vehicles, four pedestrians, and two motorcyclists.

There were 6,612 collisions total.

The city says speeding accounted for 17.2 per cent of police-reported crashes. Meanwhile, distracted driving was a "leading" factor in17.1 per centof crashes involving death and injury, though the city noted it "quite conceivable" that the figure is really higher.

It's the fourth time the city has compiled its own collision report. Next year's report, Field said, will continue to reflect impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"We won't really know the full impact of the alterations to the traffic patterns until the pandemic has concluded," he said.

Staff analyzing video of King and Victoria

The vast majority of the crashes occurred in urban areas.King Street East and Victoria Avenue South tops the list as the most dangerous intersection, with 29 incidents involving deaths and injuries since 2016.

Field says staff is analyzing video to better understand what happens to safety at that intersection, as well as considering counter-measures.

The intersection with the most serious crashes involving pedestrians is Dundurn Street South and King Street West.

"It's like the start of a car race, because a lot of those folks are heading into the highways. There's a zone between Dundurn and the on-ramps that is high speed, high acceleration," said Kay.

He also noted that when approaching the intersection from Dundurn and York, pedestrians are forced to cross the intersection three times traversing double digit lanes in order to reach the Fortinos plaza.

"The distance you have to cross is extreme," Kay said.

Councillor says 'severe action' needed along Upper James

There were 192 crashes involving pedestrians across the whole city, which did decrease by 21.7 per cent compared to 2019.

One of the deaths was an 11-year-old boy Jude Strickland, who was hit while coming home from school. Police had said the driver of a pick-up truck didn't stop for the crossing guard.

The speed limit has been reduced on that section of Upper Gage Avenue.

Ward 8 councillor John-Paul Danko noted that four of the top 10 road segments with the highest fatalitiesand injuries were along Upper James.

"It's fairly clear from this report that there's a pretty severe need for action specifically on the Upper James corridor," he said.

Field said staff is looking at addressing that area too.

Fewer crashes on LINC, RHVP

The impacts of the pandemic are also reflected on theLincoln M. Alexander Parkway (LINC) and Red Hill Valley Parkway (RHVP), where crashes decreased by54 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.The city also notes that police upped its enforcement.

Deaths and injuries on the roads went down by 83.3 per cent (LINC) and 60 per cent (RHVP.)

The speed limit on the RHVP was recently decreased to 80km/hr. A multi-million dollar judicial inquiry involving the RHVP is ongoing.

In fact, the only type of crash that increased in 2020 were those involving cyclists, which went up by two per cent.Field pointed to the pandemic as an explanation.

"I think we've all observed that people have been out and about more often, walking and cycling as they escape the lockdown and their homes," he said.

The city reports that there is one crash involving a cyclist every2.25 days. A crash involving a pedestrian happensevery 1.5 days.

Kay said he supports red light cameras, disagreeing with those who call them "cash grabs," as well as turning more one way roads into two to cut down on encouraging racing. He also urged for further implementation of lights that give pedestrians a five-second head start to cross ahead of cars.

Here's a quick look at some facts about 2020 crashes in Hamilton:

• Most happened during daylight.
  
• Most happened on dry roads. (The RHVP is an exception to that pattern, where most 57.8 per cent happened during non-dry conditions.)
  
• The most common day for crashes isFriday.
  
• The most common type of collision involves a single motor vehicle. The second is fender benders, which were the biggest proportion of crashes at intersections.

• More people got hurt in crashes in the summer and early falls months. From 2016 to 2020, the months of June to October had the highest numbers of deaths and injuries.