Traffic fatalities up in Waterloo region this year so far, police say

There have been eight traffic fatalities in Waterloo region so far this year, which totals the number of traffic fatalities that occurred all of last year.

Staff Sgt. Michael Hinspergerwith the Waterloo Regional Police Service says there are several reasons this could be the case, but suspects impaired driving was a primefactor.

"The number of fatalities we've had this year ... in comparison is equivalent to last year's total," Hinsperger said.

"There's a number of issues with several of them having impaired drivers involved."

Hinsperger says the number of fatalities tend to fluctuate year to year. In 2016, there were 12 fatalities and in 2017, there were 14, according to police.

Right now,police are trying to focus on the main cause of these fatalities.

Hinsperger says police are often trying to highlight the fatal four offences for collisions during public outreach programming: impaired driving, distracted driving, aggressive driving, and failing to use your seatbelt.

He says despite the numbers years to date, he isn't too concerned about the numbers increasing drastically for the rest of the year, but wants everyone to stay safe and vigilant on the roads.

"Obviously we don't want to see any fatalities at all. One fatality in a year is too many," he said.

As far as the introduction of the new ION LRT system, Hinsperger says since it is a new system, drivers will have to get used to it. At least four collisions have occurred between the new ION trainsand vehiclesover the last month as the system gets used to the new tracks.

Heading into the summer, Hinsperger encourages drivers to drive sober, avoid using cellphones, puton theirseatbeltand drive the speed limit.

"If we have drivers remembering those main points, those are those things that are going to reduce our injury collisions and our fatalities," he said.