Each year an average of 15 people die as a result of motor vehicle collisions in Wellington County. One of those people, on average, dies on a roadway in Wellington North.
Inspector Scott Smith, OPP Detachment Commander, shared those startling statistics with Wellington North Council on Monday evening. In fact, he told council that if those deaths were reported homicides, Wellington County would receive national attention.
Inspector Smith told council he finds the fatal collision statistics “appalling”. In his opinion, even one death as the result of a motor vehicle collision is one death too many. The good news is that the number of motor vehicle collisions in Wellington County has been steadily going down over the past three years.  But Inspector Smith says there are “still too many”  -- on average 2,200 across the county each year.
The prevalent mindset amongst Wellington County residents seems to be that “accidents happen” and that, if you’re travelling in a motor vehicle, there is a certain amount of risk involved when you decide to take to the road. The OPP are trying to change that by targeting speeders, aggressive and distracted drivers. New laws prohibit driving while talking on a cell phone or texting; RIDE programs are a regular part of the landscape as drivers who insist on driving after drinking are caught. In fact, the OPP do not refer to motor vehicle collisions as accidents because, as the old adage goes, there is no such thing as an accident. There is a cause for each and every collision and many, if not all, can be avoided.
Councillor Dan Yake told Inspector Smith that he lives in Mount Forest, works in Arthur and drives back and forth. He maintains he can “count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen people stopped for speeding.” At the same time, he compared the way some people drive along that stretch of highway to being “like a NASCAR race.” While there are sometimes 20 OPP cruisers at the training centre in Kenilworth – and Councillor Yake does not dispute the necessity of training – he told Inspector Smith he would like to see more of those cars on the road, more of a police presence on that stretch of Wellington North highway.
Inspector Smith said the OPP is in the process of buying a number of high-tech speed radar signs with an eye to placing one along side the highway to point out to people how fast they are going and hopefully prompt them to slow down. The radar signs will contain a computer program the OPP will be able to download and consequently have the statistics as to the rate of speed and time of day people are whizzing by the sign. And, Inspector Smith told council, the OPP will be sneaky – once the drivers become complacent that the sign doesn’t come with an OPP officer with speed radar down the road, ready to write a ticket, that’s what will happen. And the OPP will be there at precisely the time of day the sign has told them that people have been speeding by.
Inspector Smith told reporters at Monday’s council meeting it is perfectly fine to tell readers about the plans. After all, the goal isn’t to write more tickets. The goal is simply to get people to slow down. The goal, ultimately, is to turn the statistics around so that not even one person dies on Wellington County roads because, as Inspector Smith told council, even one death is one death too many.