Staff Sgt. Rick Waugh said as part of the study, officers will now include added information in their collision reports to give them a better idea of some of the contributing factors. That will help them understand why, for example, an increasing number of collisions took place when a pedestrian crossed without the right of way.
"We really wanted to try and better understand not just why collisions are occurring ... but especially the ones involving pedestrians," Waugh said.
Police went over each report from 2012-2015, Waugh said, looking for trends. They found that half of all collisions in the city in 2015 were at intersections, compared to 24 per cent three years earlier. And the number of collisions involving pedestrians crossing without the right of way soared in that time – from 18 per cent in 2012 to 36 per cent last year.
They suspect the increases have to do with the fact both drivers and pedestrians are more distracted these days, Waugh said. But the study will give them the data they need to target education and enforcement initiatives. It involves having officers fill in three new boxes on the reporting form that will detail specific elements of the incident – things such as the colour of clothing worn by the pedestrian, whether they were wearing headphones or talking or texting when the incident occurred.
Since Jan. 1, police in Sudbury have added these categories to collision reports:
- The presence of any distraction to a pedestrian including, but no limited to, the use of any electronic device or wearing clothing that interferes with sight or sound.
- The nature of the clothing worn by a pedestrian, including colour(s) or the use of reflective material
- The use of a mobility aid, such as canes, walkers, crutch, wheelchair, skateboard, scooter etc.
The new data will be added to information already collected, such as speed, improper turns or fail to yield “to help police identify key issues surrounding pedestrian collisions,” the release said.
"What we found very quickly is that on the traditional collision report we use every day, there's really no specific areas that capture what could be some of the contributing factors," Waugh said.
The majority of the form, he said, will still be focused on what the driver was doing. But the added information will give them a fuller picture of what happened.
"We've educated our officers that, if they are ever involved in a pedestrian collision investigation, they are to utilize those special study boxes to now capture this information," Waugh said. "Over time, we'll be able to either validate and learn what those contributing factors are.
"Maybe dark clothing wasn't even a factor. We may find out that no matter what clothing you're wearing ... it has no bearing on it."
The information will allow them to develop prevention strategies beyond simply writing a ticket after an accident has occurred.
"Enforcement will always be a part of it,” he said. “But we also need to educate and provide safety tips to everybody -- drivers and pedestrians. We're going to use (the information) for our ultimate goal of public and community safety. And that means having safe roads."
