The most collision-prone intersection in the city sits at Edinburgh Road South and Wellington Street West, a five-year analysis of crashes shows.
That cross section saw 117 collisions between 2017 and 2021, of which 87 per cent were deemed minor in nature and 13 per cent resulted in major injuries or fatalities, as detailed in the city’s collision report, released Tuesday.
“We have to follow the evidence, know where these collisions are happening,” stated Liraz Fridman, transportation safety specialist for the city, explaining the information is used to review collision locations in order to consider pre-emptive measures to reduce the number and/or severity of crashes. “It’s incredibly important.”
The report identifies stretches of roads and intersections where collisions occur most often, along with information about severity and whether collisions involved drivers, pedestrians and/or cyclists.
Areas identified as top priorities in the report will be reviewed during the next year to determine what initiatives, if any, can be used to bring those numbers down, Fridman said. A variety of options exist, including reduced speed limits, speed cushions, pedestrian signals and more.
Last year the city installed pedestrian islands, known as "smart channels," at Wellington and Edinburgh in an effort to reduce collisions there. Fridman noted it can take time for such measures to generate improved numbers.
The city saw 9,915 collisions on its 598 lane-km of roads between 2017 and 2021, which is a reduction of 724 from the previous five-year period. Part of the reason for that, Fridman noted, is a result of decreased traffic volumes during the pandemic.
“There’s more people on the road (again) and therefore more collisions happening.”
Edinburgh at Wellington was the only intersection identified in the report as having triple-digit collisions. The second-most crashes occurred at Gordon and Wellington streets, with 76.
In terms of mid-block collisions, the most frequent spot was Woodlawn Road East, between Woolwich Street and Country Club Drive, where there were 53.
On average, the cumulative cost of collisions in Guelph is valued at $97.8 million annually, an increase of $1.6 million from the previous five-year report, the report states.
Additional report findings show:
- one collision happens about every 4.5 hours
- seven per cent of collisions involved a cyclist or pedestrian
- 73.6 per cent of injury-related collisions happened at intersections
- the intersection at Gordon Street and Maltby Road had the highest percentage of collisions that resulted in a major or fatal outcome
- the stretch of Woolwich Street between the Guelph Junction Railway crossing and Marilyn Drive was the midblock location with the highest percentage of collisions that resulted in a major or fatal outcome.
