It’s a fact: Wellington County is one of the worst areas in the province for fatal motor vehicle collisions.
There were 15 fatalities in the county last year alone – up 36% from 2008 – and OPP Commander Scott Smith is surprised the startling statistics receive little fanfare.
“If we had 15 homicides we’d have international attention,” Smith said last week during a presentation to Guelph-Eramosa council.
Many of the tragedies occur as a result of drivers pulling out in front of fast moving traffic, such as those trying to make a left hand turn on busy highways, he explained.
“Everybody is represented, literally, in the grand scheme of things,” Smith said, noting victims are both male and female, young and old, impaired and sober.
When several councillors mentioned the corner of Highway 7 and Jones Baseline as a problem spot, Smith said while aggressive driving can be linked to accidents, the fatalities occur all across the county.
“It’s like taking paint and splattering it against the wall,” he said of the OPP map showing the random location of fatal collisions in the county.
On a positive note, while the 15 fatalities in 2009 represent a 36% increase over the 2008 figure of 11, Smith did say it was not uncommon 20 or even 10 years ago for the fatalities to regularly top 20 per year. And thus far in 2010, there has been only one such incident.
Guelph-Eramosa statistics
Smith told council that violent crime was down last year, though not as much as police would like. A lot of those incidents are connected to domestic disputes, he noted.
And while traffic collisions in general were down significantly in the township last year, property crime experienced a large spike in 2009.
Smith said the latter may be attributed to the trusting nature of residents in the county, who often leave valuables unlocked or in plain sight. He added property crimes are underreported.
“I don’t even want to guess how underreported they are,” he said.
Police are asking residents to lock anything and everything they don’t want to lose, to make it harder on “lazy” criminals.
“If they weren’t lazy, they’d have real jobs,” he said, adding residents need to be alert and help watch the homes of their neighbours, particularly those who are away for extended periods of time..
Impaired driving incidents were down last year, though Smith noted police are still blown away by the number of people charged through RIDE programs.
He said it used to be that drivers had to be “borderline retarded” to get caught in a RIDE program, but now police catch 20% of total impaired drivers at the roadside checks.
Overall, despite increases in a few types of crimes, Smith concluded that Guelph-Eramosa “is still a very safe place to live.”
As proof, Smith’s report included two comparative victimization rates.
For violent crime, Guelph-Eramosa experiences six incidents per year per 1,000 households, while the county figure is 12, the provincial figure is 106 and the national number is 112. For property crime, the figures are 37, 62, 248 and 233 respectively.
Councillor Doug Breen said he has heard comments that there seems to be more OPP cars on the road in the last six to eight weeks and asked if there is any truth to that.
Smith said that since the OPP hired civilian data entry personnel, police officers now have 25% more time to spend doing their jobs, including being more visible in the community.
Mayor Chris White said he was glad to hear Smith talking about the role of neighbours in crime prevention. He noted people need to work together and get involved. The mayor also thanked Smith for the presentation.
