Police report:

Road safety worsens in 2015

Compared to last year, Gatineau’s road safety record is nothing to brag about, but if looked at over several years, it is. In 2015, there were 2,988 accidents versus 2,852 in 2014, representing a 5% jump, but 2009 registered 4,508 road accidents in the city.

“In 2015, there were about 639 collisions less than the annual average from 2009 to 2014,” reported Mariane Leduc, of the Gatineau police.

In every road category, the number of accidents increased in Gatineau for 2015, compared to 2014. Deadly accidents increased 250%, from 2 in 2014 to 7 in 2015.  Police say that about half of these were attributable to errors of attention. Impaired driving decreased by 9%, with 37 fewer cases than in 2014, which had 402 cases.

In 2015, accidents with injuries also rose, from 615 in 2014 to 664 in 2015. Accidents causing damages of more than $2,000 jumped 5% and accidents causing damages of less than $2,000 only rose by 2%.

As for the number of tickets issued, overall it increased by 2% to reach 64,892. The category with the biggest increase was the reserved-lanes category which exploded by 34%. On the other hand, tickets for unpaid registrations plummeted 32%.

Speeding tickets remained practically the same, with 20,957 tickets in 2015, representing close to a third of all infractions.

“Roughly 31% of these tickets were issued to drivers speeding in 30 and 40 km/h zones,” said chief Mario Harel during a presentation to city council.

Tickets for the use of cellphones while driving also remained at par; however, this might increase next year. “I challenged my team to double the amount of tickets for the use of cellphones while driving,” said Harel.