A review of road safety, with respect to speed and intersections, was undertaken by a sub-committee of the CCMTA’s Standing Committee on Road Safety Research and Policies. The review was undertaken at the request of a number of provincial police agencies, road safety stakeholders and as a result of public advocacy. The sub-committee was to determine the magnitude of collisions related to speed and intersections as well as to identify strategies currently in place to address these issues. In 1998-1999 a cross Canada survey was conducted to determine enforcement activity, collision information and related existing legislation. The results of the survey follow: 1. All provinces have a variety of fines and demerits, typically determined by the degree exceeding the speed limit. 2. Some provinces implemented additional victims’ surcharges such as additional fines for speeding in school, work/construction or playground zones. 3. Conviction information indicated that speeding represents a large proportion of moving violations. Caution is advised in interpreting these results, in that violation tickets represent an output measure which for speeding, because of the use of technology, is of considerably higher volumes per unit of time than other moving violation strategies. In addition the quantifiable nature of speed enforcement and the assistance of technology in the verification of infractions is frequently used as the basis for traffic stops. 4. Speed is undeniably the major contributing factor to crash severity. 5. All jurisdictions have established programs to address speed, primarily through police agencies. (Author/publisher)
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