Last year saw a big reduction in the number of reportable vehicle collisions on city roads, with almost 40 per cent fewer crashes reported to Guelph police.
Year-end statistics show there were 2,033 collisions reported in 2020, down from 3,271 in 2019.
“We’re seeing considerably fewer collisions,” said Sgt. Ray Gordon of the Guelph Police Service traffic unit. “That I attribute to, not that Guelph drivers are getting better, but there are fewer vehicles on the road with which to collide.”
There were two road fatalities last year (down from five in 2019), as well as 106 fewer non-fatal injury collisions, with 246.
Property damage crashes fell from 784 to 495, with 19 non-reportable collisions (damage value less than $2,000) down from 31.
The collision reporting centre handled 1,241 incidents last year of crashes involving vehicles that were safe to drive after, with no injuries and no damage to private or city property. That’s nearly half of the 2,099 collisions in 2019.
For Wellington County OPP, the number of collisions last year dropped to 1,478 from 1,861, a reduction of 15 per cent.
Among them are six fatalities, down from 16 the year before, as well as 190 incidents of injury and 1,282 crashes involving property damage – down from 241 and 1,604 respectively.
Asked whether Guelph police has seen an increase in the number of speeding tickets being handed out, as has been reported in Waterloo region and other areas of the province, Gordon said he has no information to suggest that’s the case locally.
“I firmly believe that speeding hasn’t increased through the pandemic, I just believe it’s been noticed now with fewer cars on the road,” he added, noting there’s been a “slight uptick” in complaints about speeders on residential roads. “That’s not to say that speeding isn’t a problem, because it is.”
Gordon explained complaints aren’t tracked in a year-over-year comparison, like collisions and reported crimes. Rather their locations are inputted into a system that officers check at the start of their shift.
“Anecdotally we know where the speeding occurs and, more importantly, where the personal injury collisions are occurring and we generally try to hit those spots,” he said. “If we can reduce speeds, we can reduce the severity of injuries of collisions.”
Speeding charges have declined in the past couple of months on OPP-patrolled roadways throughout the province, said Const. Kirk MacDonald, Wellington County OPP’s media relations and community safety officer.
During the first couple months of 2021, there was a 30 per cent drop in the number of speeding charges handed out, though the specific number varies detachment to detachment, he noted.
“In Wellington County, our speeding charges are down 19 per cent so far compared to last year during the first two months of the year,” MacDonald said in an email. “Stunt driving charges during the same timeframe pretty much remained the same.”