I’ve been asked to comment on why intersections are not patrolled as
often as highways. The person making that request observed that there is
a significant propensity for drivers to run yellow and red lights. It
appears to them that intersections pose a
much greater and possibly deadlier risk than speeding on a straight
stretch of highway.
This reader is certainly correct on one point, intersections are one of
the deadliest places on B.C. highways. Whether they are patrolled or not
is another question.
The last time I saw statistics, more than half of the collisions in B.C.
were occurring in intersections. Since these collisions tend to be what
is popularly known as a T-bone, they produce higher rates of injury and
death. When another vehicle hits you in
the driver or passenger door, there is very little structure there to
provide you with any protection. Although side airbags help, many
vehicles still lack these safety devices.
In 2017, ICBC tells us in round figures that there were 120,000
intersection crashes that produced 63,000 injuries and 69 deaths. This
means that more than 325 intersection crashes occur each day around our
province.
If you are interested in discovering where these crashes are happening
in your neighbourhood, ICBC also publishes interactive crash maps for
four regions of our province:
Lower Mainland
Vancouver Island
Southern Interior
North Central
More than a decade ago the RCMP in B.C. implemented the Traffic Services
Management Information Tool (TSMIT) to guide the enforcement practices
of Highway Patrol and Municipal Traffic units. In addition, Integrated
Road Safety Units (IRSU) were formed around
the province to focus solely on traffic law enforcement.
TSMIT was to be used to guide enforcement activities according to the locations and behaviours that are causing collisions.
Each traffic unit was expected to enter data on the collisions that it
investigated and the enforcement it conducted to insure that efforts
were focused on countering the behaviour that resulted in crashes.
Changes to implementation have occurred over the years
and I’ve been told that today it is up to the individual detachment
commander whether they will participate or not.
Police in BC write between 82,000 and 90,000 traffic tickets each year
for intersection related driving offences. This is approximately 17% of
the total number of tickets issued.
Are they being written in the most dangerous intersections? Perhaps not.
I inquired about a particular intersection in Surrey that was brought
to my attention. The response was that enforcement was not conducted
there because it was too dangerous for the officers
involved.
I don’t think that this is an empty excuse. The RCMP is subject to the
Canada Labour Code and is responsible to protect it’s officers.
Like it or not, automated enforcement is one answer that holds violators
to account and conducts enforcement where it is dangerous for a human
being to try and do it.
So, is intersection enforcement lacking, does TSMIT tell officers to
focus elsewhere in this reader’s location, or are the police being lax
about what they should be doing? This is a question that I cannot
answer.
However, since the RCMP or municipal forces are employed by you to do
this work, there is no reason that you cannot ask if you feel the
resources are not being used properly. Take your pen in hand and request
and explanation, they are accountable to you.
The Policing & Security Branch of the Ministry of the Attorney
General is responsible for ensuring adequate and effective levels of
policing. They are accountable too and probably best reached through
your MLA.
Story URL:
https://www.drivesmartbc.ca/intersections/patrolling-intersections
—
Constable Tim Schewe (Retired)
DriveSmartBC: Where better than average road users satisfy their curiosity.