You are more likely to get into an accident on York Region road during Friday evening rush hour, report says

Thestar.com
Sept. 19, 2016
By Lisa Queen

You are more likely to get into a traffic accident on a regional road in York on a Friday between September and February between 5 and 6 p.m. than at any other time.

That is one of the findings contained in the region’s new 2016 annual traffic safety report.

Overall, the most common accidents are rear-end collisions at signalized intersections, the report said.

“Most collisions are as a result of someone’s improper driving or driving inattentively,” it said.

“As has been the case in years past, the majority of high collision intersections are situated on high volume roads such as Hwy. 7, Rutherford Road, Major Mackenzie Drive and Yonge Street.”

About 3.35 million trips are made on regional roads daily and more than six billion are made each year.

The number of collisions on the region’s 4,100 kilometres of roads dropped by 13 per cent between 2013 and 2015.

There were 9,581 collisions in 2013, which decreased to 8,329 in 2014 and to 8,303 in 2015.

The number of fatal collisions jumped from 14 in 2013 to 19 in 2014 before falling to 13 last year, which was a 10-year low. Three pedestrians and three cyclists were killed in traffic collisions last year.

The number of collisions on regional roads involving injuries dropped from 2,293 in 2013 to 2,194 in 2014 and to 2,101 in 2015.

Between 2013 and 2015, the number of collisions involving pedestrians climbed 6 per cent to 169 last year, while the number of collisions involving cyclists dropped six per cent to 98 last year.

Last year, Mackenzie Drive at the Hwy. 400 off ramp had the single largest number of collisions on a regional road, with 59 accidents.

In 2014, the worst site for collisions was Hwy. 7 and Jane Street, where there were 67.

In 2013, Hwy. 7 and Weston Road, where there were 77 collisions, was the worst location.

After an unusual 16 per cent spike in collisions in 2010, there has been a decreasing trend in accidents despite increasing traffic volumes, the report said.