There are approximately 187 accidents in town each year within Town limits. That’s according to data from Drayton Valley Enforcement Services.
Cody Rossing, the Manager of Enforcement Services and Emergency Management for the Town, says data from 2016-2023 has helped map out intersections in the community that sees the highest number of collisions. The intersection at 50 Street North and Hwy 22 has had eight collisions, the highest in the community. The second highest number was at the intersection of 50 Street and 50 Avenue.
“Anything along Highway 22, the Town doesn’t have jurisdiction over, pertaining to road designs or changes,” says Rossing.
He says getting the data from the Province regarding collisions along Highway 22 is something they haven’t been able to do before. Now that they have the data they can start mapping out the high incident intersections and starting brainstorming ways they can address some of the problem areas. Rossing says those areas will have more focus from the community peace officers.
Rossing says they are trying to develop strategies on how to reduce collisions in the community on a whole, particularly those that result in fatalities.
“There’s different things we can use like engineering and controls,” says Rossing. “But for enforcement services, how are we strategically educating and enforcing in those areas?”
He says there are a number of factors that can contribute to collisions. Over the past eight years there have been 434 caused from unsafe speeds, 245 were intersection related, 163 that are weather related, 114 from road surface conditions, 51 involving animals, and 417 were from drivers performing improper actions.
With speed being the most prominent cause, enforcement services have been taking action to find out where speeding is most common and increasing patrols. The digital speed signs that were purchased with funds from the Community Safety Committee don’t have cameras on them, but they do record the speed and report that data back to enforcement services.
On March 6, officers intercepted a vehicle driving 102 km per hour in a 50 km zone.
“That vehicle was pulled over, a court summons was issued to the driver to compel them to court. If they don’t attend court a warrant will be issued for them,” says Rossing.
If they are found guilty, they could face a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a license suspension.
Rossing says anyone who is over the speed limit by more than 51 km per hour will face an automatic court summons.
This was not the only incident of speeding. On March 5, the digital speed signs picked up on a vehicle driving 111 km per hour in a 60 km per hour zone. They also pulled over a vehicle going 50 km per hour over the limit that same day.
“That is strictly within the Town of Drayton Valley boundaries,” says Rossing.
There are a number of reports enforcement services can get from the digital signs, including the amount of traffic on a road and the times that see the most traffic. Using this data, enforcement services can ensure they deploy units during the busiest times of the day to the areas where speeding is common.
