Ottawa, as we all know, is the national capital of Canada and it is swamped by vehicles any time of the day. Though it claims to have some of the most sophisticated infrastructures and aptly built roadways, the statistics show that some areas in Ottawa have seen the worst of car accidents in recent times after Toronto and Brampton. Ottawa usually has 6 collisions for every hundred vehicles on the road. Though the weather seems like a culprit, experts say that most of the collisions have happened during clear days.
So for those who are interested to know more about car accidents in Ottawa, here is an article that gives a sneak-peak into areas of Ottawa which have reported the highest car accidents in recent years.
Did you know?
1 in every 5 car accidents in Ottawa is a result of drunk driving. 1 in 3 deaths is caused due to speeding. In addition to deaths, there are about 2.5 million people who are injured due to car accidents. It has been observed that most car accidents that happen are signalized intersection collisions. And according to statistics, the number of car accidents in Ottawa has been multiplying since 2015.
Areas in Ottawa with the highest car accidents
Hunt Club Road
The Hunt Club Road, also called the Ottawa Road #32, is a major east-west route in Ottawa, Canada. A major part of the Hunt club is divided into a four-lane principal arterial road with unlimited access between west of Merivale Road and Highway 416 where it is an expressway.
There is a Master Transportation Plan that has thought about widening this road to six lanes, especially between Highway 416 and Bank street.
The speed limit on Hunt Club road on most of the sections is 80km/h and in the South Keys area, it is 60km/h.
Major intersections along the Hunt Club Road include Riverside Drive, Old Richmond Road, Moody Drive, Highway 416, Highway 417, Airport Parkway, Merivale Road, and a few others. Also, the communities surrounding the Hunt Club Road are Uplands, Southkeys, Greenboro.
Hunt Club Road is that area in Ottawa that has seen the highest number of car collisions as of current data. This may be due to the large number of intersections that happen along this road. According to the latest Annual Road Safety report, there were on average 58 collisions per year that happened on Hunt Club Road, out of which most of them were car-related collisions. Though these collisions did not cause fatal injuries, they had reported several minor to major injuries.
Kent Street
Kent Street which is a major part of Downtown Ottawa is one of those streets which is thickly populated due to the number of offices that are present along with its neighbourhood. Kent Street, also once called Hugh street, begins at Queensway and then runs up to Wellington Street. The southern part of the street has many small offices, restaurants, and residences, while the northern part of it harbours huge offices among which most of them happen to be government offices. Owing to the number of people who travel to these offices, the traffic on Kent Street happens to be quite high. There are always cars lined up one after the other like in any other Downtown.
According to reports Kent Street at the intersection of Catherine street witnesses close to 43 collisions per year and is second in the list of areas in Ottawa that witness the highest car accidents. Though the collisions haven’t always led to death, there have been cases where the people involved in these car accidents have undergone major injuries. It is indeed tough to regulate traffic here around this street because of the number of people that access it, but there have been some strict rules on speed limits that are set around in this area.
Orleans
Orleans is a suburb of Ottawa and is situated 16kms from the Downtown. It is located on the east end of the city which is along the Ottawa river. With a population close to 116,688, Orlean extends over the municipal wards of Innes, Orlean, and Cumberland. Being situated away from the Downtown area, people usually find it less crowded. However, it still stands at the third position in the areas of Ottawa that witness the highest car accidents.
According to the Annual Safety Report, Orleans witnesses 40 collisions per year on average. While some blame the infrastructure, others justify saying the collisions happened mostly during the winters. However, the exact cause of these car accidents would eventually come down to negligence and drunk driving according to the authorities.
These car accidents have surely resulted in the death of a few, and there have also been pedestrians and motorcyclists who were severely injured in a few cases while others sustained minor scratches and fractures. Traffic rules have been made stringent around the intersections to avoid these collisions to the best of the authoritative abilities.
Heron Road
Heron is one of the most important roads in Ottawa. It is a place that harbours offices belonging to public works and government services. Heron road starts from the Heron Road Bridge and then crosses the Rideau Canal, Rideau River, and the Vincent Massey Park. From this point, the Heron Road divides as a four-six line principal arterial. This road often becomes a speed trap with a speed limit being 60km/h on the west of Bank Street, and 50km/h on the east of Bank Street. Heron Road is relatively less populated than other areas of Ottawa and usually has a free flow of traffic. Despite this, the number of car accidents around this area is relatively high.
Heron Road stands at the fourth position among the areas of Ottawa with the highest car accidents, with an average of 35-40 collisions per year. Some accidents have been pretty intimidating with people succumbing to serious injuries. Most of these accidents are seen along the junction of Heron Road and Riverside Road and safety measures are being taken to avoid any further collisions.
Carling Avenue
Carling Avenue is also known as Ottawa Road #38 is a major east-west high-grade urban road in Ottawa and it is just next to the motorways in the traffic hierarchy. It extends from March road in Kanata to Bronson Avenue in Glebe. It extends west until the Ottawa river before reaching Kanata. Carling Avenue is named after the founder of Carling Brewery, Mr. John Carling.
Carling Avenue is a four-six lane principal arterial and has a speed limit of 60kms/h. However, the portion of this road through the Greenbelt and Kanata is a two-lane rural highway and here the speed limit is set to 80kms/h. Also in December 2005, there was a one-lane bus-way that was set up through Carling Avenue to ease the bus traffic.
Even though this area seems well set to accommodate the traffic, it still stands at the 5th position among the areas in Ottawa with the highest car accidents. Carling Avenue reports close to 30 collisions per year. The majority of these are car accidents with a few being extremely fatal. Especially the Kanata belt with the two-lane rural road is a problematic area and the authorities have been trying hard to improve the roads along this way and are also considering the reduction of the speed limit along with Kanata.
The impact of a car accident is usually life-changing. The injuries can range from cuts, scars, lacerations, to those affecting the spinal cord and the brain. To recover from this is indeed going to be very tough, and this is the reason every country has laid some ground rules to manage plying of vehicles in a disciplined way. The speed limit, the signals to let the pedestrians cross the road, or those separate lanes for the cyclist, every such traffic regulation is imposed to make sure that there is no confusion, congestion, and chaos. Despite all these regulations, the number of car accidents continues to grow, and this may be negligence of the driver, bad weather, faulty parts of the vehicle, or the geography of few roads.
However, it is everyone’s prime responsibility to be in the right mindset and follow the traffic regulations with diligence, so that we could avoid a lot of such incidents and reach our destinations safely.
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