Number of Highway Fatalities Lower

Nova Scotia saw the second lowest number of traffic deaths on record last year. Seventy-one people died on provincial highways compared to 90 in 2004, although Transportation and Public Works Minister Ron Russell said Nova Scotians can do more to prevent highway deaths.

"Nothing is more important to highway safety than the choices that drivers make," said Mr. Russell. "While the number of road fatalities is down, impaired driving, unbelted occupants, speed and inattention are continuing problems."

Speed, or driving too fast for conditions, was a factor in almost half of road fatalities. Alcohol was a factor in 25 per cent, and inattention was reported a factor in 23 per cent of all deaths. Of the 54 people who died in a car or truck, 20 (37 per cent) were not wearing seatbelts.

There has been a steady decline in fatal road crashes since 1973. In that year, there were 277 fatalities on Nova Scotia's roads. The number of highway deaths in 2003 was 70, the lowest year on record according to Department of Transportation and Public Works statistics.

The Department of Transportation and Public Works, Nova Scotia Health Promotion and the Department of Justice, and other groups dedicated to road safety, work on projects aimed at reducing the number of highway fatalities for both adults and youths. New regulations for buckling up children younger than nine years of age come into effect on Jan. 1, 2007. A Health Promotion program currently underway is designed to help teenagers understand the consequences of taking risks such as drinking and driving or speeding was partially funded by Transportation and Public Works and others.

Health Promotion Minister Rodney MacDonald said that working together makes sense. "Joint projects like these are health promotion in action," he said. "One department alone can't make Nova Scotia safer and healthier, it's going to take all of us working together -- governments, communities and individuals." Nova Scotia has Canada's only government-funded injury prevention strategy and road safety is one of its priorities.

Road safety initiatives in 2005 included:

• amending the Motor Vehicle Act to double fines for speeding in school zones and construction zones;
• enabling legislation for an alcohol ignition interlock program;
• co-ordinated safety checkpoints with police;
• acquiring modern breathalysers for police forces;
• implementing a new winter road safety program for young children;
• a tour of high schools by Cara Johnston on personal choices involving driving, alcohol and peer pressure; and
• Targeted road safety advertising.

"Government will do even more to improve highway safety this year, including more highway twinning, and educational campaigns that will focus on the major causes of fatalities -- impaired driving, speed, inattention and not wearing seatbelts," said Mr. Russell.

Nova Scotia's road safety partners continue to work toward making our roads safer. The partners are guided by Road Safety Vision 2010, a national plan to reduce the number of road users killed and seriously injured. For more information on the vision, visit the website at www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/vision .

Nova Scotia's road safety advisory committee helps government develop road safety priorities and programs. The committee includes the provincial departments of Transportation and Public Works and Justice; Nova Scotia Health Promotion; Emergency Health Services; the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board; every police agency in the province; the Nova Scotia Safety Council; the Insurance Bureau of Canada; Senior Citizens' Secretariat; and the Vehicle Safety Research Team at Daltech.