Injuries down on the Red Hill, sparking talk of a permanent traffic unit

Deaths and injuries have decreased drastically on the Red Hill Valley Parkway (RHVP) since Hamilton police beefed up enforcement there, which has sparked talk of a permanent traffic enforcement unit.

Police increased patrols in March and the success has shown in the statistics, said Frank Bergen, deputy chief of Hamilton Police Service.

In 2017, two people died in crashes on the stretch, but no one has died on the highway in nearly two years.

While 41 people were injured on the road in 2017, and 39 in 2018, Bergen said, only 13 people have been injured on the Red Hill this year. Since the increased police patrols, only six people have been injured.

"Those statistics speak to the veracity of our officers' presence," Bergen told the Hamilton Police Services Board Thursday. "We have, in fact, reduced aggressive driving, speeding and collisions."

The city paid police to increase enforcement this spring after controversy around the highway.

City council learned in February that a 2013 report, left buried in a private folder, showed the friction of the asphalt was below U.K. safety standards. The city has since resurfaced large portions of the highway and decreased the speed limit from 90 km/h to 80 km/h. It has also hired a judge to investigate why the report wasn't uncovered sooner.

Council initially set aside about $150,000 to hire extra officers to patrol the stretch from March to June. Then council approved another $280,000 for the rest of the year, Bergen said, for a total of about $433,000.

But the city is making more than that in revenue. Police have laid 3,264 infractions along the stretch since March, Bergen said. If those fines were $220 on average, that's $718,080 in fines generated, he said.

Those are fines under the Provincial Offences Act, which go back to the city.

"If we're funding [initiatives] from the people committing offences," said police Chief Eric Girt, "that's probably not a bad model to use."

The numbers had board members wondering if there should be a permanent unit devoted to the RHVP. Girt said he plans to suggest a traffic enforcement unit next year, when he brings the police budget to the city.

"Maybe in the next budget cycle, we move it from a pilot project to a dedicated branch that does traffic enforcement," he said.

"We've costed that out both in terms of equipment involved — speed detention equipment, alcohol screening devices and their various permutations — and also specific knowledge with regard to traffic enforcement."

Chad Collins, a board member and Ward 5 city councillor, supported that idea.

"It's yielded results," he said of the enforcement. "And I think we need something more permanent in place."