Toronto, Ontario — With both the Labour Day long weekend and back-to-school season rapidly approaching, data from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) warns of the potential for increased collisions.
Citizens across the country have also raised concerns, and according to letters sent to Guy Pilon, Mayor of Vaudreuil-Dorian, Quebec, many citizens are worried about the risk of collision and road rage incidents over the weekend and for the back-to-school season.
For Quebec citizens, especially those in the Vaudreuil-Dorian and Montreal areas, this concern is largely fuelled by the ongoing construction of the Illes-Aux Tourtes Bridge. However, according to a 2016 report from Sick Kids hospital in Toronto, Ontario, dangerous and emotion-fuelled driving does put children at a higher risk of getting hit during school drop offs.
Notably, Sick Kids’ report notes that “unsafe parking and child drop-offs, such as dropping children off on the opposite side of the school, stood out as the most common dangerous driving behaviours, seen near 104 schools, or 88 percent of data points.” More dangerous driving was also observed in schools with greater social disadvantage and those near higher speed roadways.
Finally, with the beginning of the Labour Day weekend, Forbes writes that the long weekend “also marks one of the busiest—and deadliest—periods for travelers on the road, due in large part to an increase in impaired driving crashes and deaths.”
According to federal data from the United States, “in recent years, nearly 500 people (in the U.S.) lost their lives in motor crashes during Labour Day weekend. Almost 40 percent of them involved a drunk driver, and a quarter, or 25 percent, involved drivers who were driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level almost twice the legal limit.”
Statistics also show that risks increase for drivers between the ages of 18 and 34 with 47 percent at risk of getting into a collision while driving under the influence.
Similarly, the OPP reported in 2016 that the Labour Day weekend was the deadliest day for drivers in 20 years up to that point with 14 killed and 800 distracted driving tickets handed out. The ICBC further notes that historically, the Labour Day weekend is one of the most dangerous driving days in Canada, and that drivers and pedestrians should remain aware of the potential risks.
