Comments on: Crash concerns plague Cambie commuters

By: Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:36:01 +0000

Hi Jason, thanks for your comment.

I did indeed call ICBC and they were able to provide me with stats from a variety of intersections.

Unfortunately, as I noted in the article, the City of Vancouver stopped counting traffic flows so we can’t calculate properly if accident rates have increased since construction started.

Cheers,

Dawn

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:58:13 +0000

Did you call ICBC about their traffic accident statistics? They have stats on almost every intersection in the province.

By: Hi Neil

Hi Neil — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:07:09 +0000

Dear Neil,

You raise an excellent point. I’ll be sure to differentiate between accidents and collisions in the future.

I really appreciate your feedback!

Dawn

By: Neil Bower

Neil Bower — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:07:00 +0000

Hi. I just wanted to say this was a nice article, but I do have one question. Did you review the collision reports to see if it was determined that these incidents were actually accidents? I was a former instructor for Defensive Driving and one of the things that we were taught was to not use the term “accident” but to use the term “collision”. The reason being “accident” implies that the collision was unavoidable where in most cases collisions are preventable (to do everything reasonable to prevent it). According to the Canada Safety Council, 85% of all collisions are preventable thus leaving only 15% of these deemed unpreventable or accidents.

So, why am I telling you this? Traffic safety is everyones concern. You are a student in a journalism school and with that position you have the ability to increase public awareness of driving safety by subtle means through your articles. One word can make a difference.

Cheers!