Crime statistics released by police agencies should always be read with a skeptical eye because of how certain crimes are classified and the fact that many people don’t report crimes for various reasons.
I just wanted to mention that as I write about some of the things I found in the 2021 annual crime stats report that has been released by the Burnaby RCMP.
One category I found especially interesting is road safety. Well, interesting and depressing.
Like the fact that there were seven fatal crashes in Burnaby in 2021, up from three in 2020. There were 380 collisions that included at least one injury, down from 446 in 2020, and 171 impaired drivers charged, down from 206 in 2020.
The number of fatal crashes was actually one of the few road safety numbers that actually went up in 2021.
Multiple violation categories saw a drop in the number of tickets issue, which I find interesting because many people were actually not on our local roads due to COVID-19 restrictions that kept people out of the office, shopping malls and restaurants. You’d think all those people staying home would mean fewer road safety infractions. But perhaps it meant that with fewer vehicles on the road, those who were driving actually drove faster and were more reckless?
Many residents have told me they noticed that the number of ratrunners actually decreased in 2020, meaning that they were sticking to the main roads due to lighter traffic. The City of Burnaby is actually focusing on one area notorious for this.
Speeding saw the biggest drop in violation tickets, dropping from 1,631 in 2020 to just 921 in 2021. That is a steep drop. So maybe we can thank congested traffic for slowing people down?
Other ticket categories that saw a drop include seatbelts, moving offences and distracted driving. There is, however, an “other” category that jumped from 4,481 infractions to 5,765 in 2021.
One area that local police have ramped up inspections is with commercial vehicles, as cops were part of 42 enforcement operations in 2021 compared to just 16 in 2020.
“The Burnaby RCMP has seen a worrying trend of unsafe commercial vehicles travelling on Burnaby roads in recent years,” says the report. “However, inspections and enforcement activities on commercial vehicles in British Columbia have reduced the number of crashes, fatalities and injuries on roadways. In 2021, Burnaby RCMP Traffic Services substantially increased commercial vehicle enforcement to ensure that the ones travelling through Burnaby are safe to do so.”
That is definitely a good area to focus on. Hopefully, the commercial trucking industry gets the message.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
