Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 10, 2005, Winnipeg, Manitoba B2 perspective w Winnipeg f ree p rests Undayag pril 10, 2005 Accident continued from Page b 1 in Canada a similar approach is being taken at the insurance corporation of British Columbia which has combined enhanced enforcement and infrastructure investments in so called traffic Black spots those traffic corridors or intersections that consistently produce the greatest number of wrecks and injuries. As a result of this program b. C. Has seen a marked decrease in the number of collisions and injuries at these Black spots. Barb Hunter manager of Road improvement strategies said i Csc invests about $ 8 million a year in intersection redesigns brighter traffic signals and signs and Concrete barriers to separate traffic in collision prone stretches of Highway. I Csc has had great Success installing roundabouts in crash prone four Way intersections and placing so called rumble strips along dimly lit highways to Alert Drivers when they Are too close to the shoulder or crossing Over into the other Lane. In some intersections i Csc paid to have left hand turn lanes installed to Stop Drivers from trying to beat red lights. Based on studies of these investments going Back nearly 10 years i Csc estimates it will recoup More than $ 30 million in reduced claims costs Over a two year time Frame on its original $ 8 million investment Hunter said. Although some May disagree with a publicly owned insurance company making investments in hard infrastructure at the end of the Day its All about reducing our crashes and claims costs Hunter said. In the face of these data Manitoba Public insurance which has chief responsibility for promoting Road safety has refused to change its approach. Mph spends More than $ 7 million annually on education and awareness including $ 3.5 million alone on High school Driver education. John Douglas vice president of communications for Mph said the company remains committed to Dep and other awareness programs in Large part because Public opinion polling shows Manitoban overwhelmingly support the expenditures. Investments in either infrastructure or traffic Law enforcement Are not currently part of a pics mandate Douglas added. National statistics on collision related injuries and fatalities Are to some extent misleading because they do not take into account widely varying policies for reporting crashes Douglas said. Some jurisdictions Douglas noted actively discourage the reporting of very minor injuries to limit claims. Mph believes the single biggest contributing fact to the rapid Rise in injury claims is the Lack of enforcement of the Highway traffic act by Manitoba ass police forces Douglas said. Between 1991 and 2003, the last year for which statistics Are available the number of convictions in Manitoba for unsafe driving including reckless driving speeding and running red lights went Down from 124,574 to 70,794, a 43 per cent decrease. While some Public insurance companies including the insurance corporation of British Columbia have helped pay for additional police officers to enforce traffic Laws Mph is not convinced it is a reasonable investment. The question being is it a Wise move to have our customers backfill something that police Are already supposed to be doing said Douglas. Ramp sgt. Wayne Blackmore conceded that like police forces All Over Canada Manitoba ass provincial police Force has fewer resources to randomly cruise highways and hand out tickets. Blackmore noted that of roughly 600 mounties in Manitoba Only 60 work in the ramp traffic division. Ironically the traffic officers often have less time to Issue traffic tickets because they Are asked to do More Road safety education in the Community Blackmore said. Were getting increased workloads placed on us without a requisite increase in resources said Blackmore. So its the old Story. Were doing More with less people or More with the same number of people. Some stuff is going to fall through the cracks. Provincial policy on How to address the rapid escalation of traffic collisions is a mixed bag. The province is resisting Calls to put More police on the streets to enforce traffic Laws while the Crown insurance company Mph claims Many of the recommendations of Road safety experts Are the responsibility of other Levels of government. For example Douglas said Mph does not have a mandate to improve traffic signals or hire additional traffic police. Douglas did concede Mph spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire prosecutors to combat Auto theft. And Mph has purchased medical equipment such As x Ray machines to Speed treatment of victims with soft tissue injuries. Transportation minister Ron Lemieux said Manitoba will have to glean a greater share of Federal gasoline tax revenues before considering Many of the infrastructure improvements or enhanced enforcement recommended by Road safety experts. That delay the experts warn will Likely mean the carnage on Manitoba roads will continue to increase. I prefer to Call these accidents what they Are murder said Mavis Johnson who has made several presentations to Mph on modernizing its Road safety programs. Whether youve been stabbed by a knife or shot by a gun or killed by a Driver its All death. If you could do something to prevent a murder Why you do it. Dan. Lett free press. My. Ca Jason Kryk / Windsor Star Archive while collision related deaths and injuries Are Down Canada wide they Are rising in Manitoba. Bill Cook / the province archives b. C. Program is saving Money while Driver education programs below Are largely ineffective. At the end of the Day its All about reducing our crashes and claims costs Barb Hunter insurance corporation of British Columbia is it a Wise move to have our customers backfill something that police Are already supposed to be doing a John Douglas Manitoba Public insurance o Ottawa lets try this morn for a different take on the Shock and Awe coming out of the Gomery commission. Lets focus on something other than the fact the sky May be falling on Paul Martins Liberal government. Lets at least attempt to look beyond Jean by aults damning testimony past the secret payments Money laundering kickbacks and other sordid political tales that Are now a recipe for Lousy Liberal polling numbers. Instead lets consider where we May be some six months hence when we have not the allegations of Liberal Friendly and Man Brault who is under indictment but rather the verdict from Justice John Gomery who is scheduled to Issue his final report into the sponsorship scandal. Now i know this Isnit going to be easy Given All we have Learned about the seamy Underbelly of Liberal style politics in Quebec Over the last decade that magically delivered some $ 1 million of your tax dollars according to Brault to the party in Power. So take a deep breath. Maybe Start counting to 10. But try to remember that the Gomery inquiry is about much More than just pointing fingers and getting people to vent on open line radio. Lost in the apoplectic headlines like Bombshell and smoking gun is the fact that the terms of reference Martin handed Gomery last year in the Wake of auditor general Sheila Fraser is report required not Only finding fault but also finding solutions to prevent another scandal from occurring. In other words there is something Good that is supposed to result from All the bad revealed by the likes of Brault in his sworn testimony initially delivered under a publication ban and now front Page news writ Large. And it is this second part of go Merys mandate that is important to remember especially As it relates the likelihood that the country could be in election Mode within weeks. Recall that when Martin launched his so called mad As hell tour last year he did not just Promise to get to the Bottom of the scandal. He was also going to fix things. Its a line the liberals Are sticking to As evidenced by How Scott Reid the prime ministers chief spinner put it last week Paul Martin is the wire Brush that will scrub clean this stain on Canadian politics. Now ism not sure likening the prime minister to a wire scrub Brush is necessarily the Best metaphor for Martin but there you have it. Martin came to Power with All the swagger of a new sheriff in town. Now his Best Chance of holding on to Power is if voters believe in him As a wire Brush. Lets fast Forward to the fall Gomery reports. The Public finally knows everything there is to know about the scandal. And we have a list of recommendations on How to fix the mess created by Jean Chretien is efforts to save the country. The value of the Gomery commission a line of inquiry Chretien would have never undertaken will no longer be in doubt. And for taking the risk of unleashing Gomery and his inquisition of Liberal politics Martin will deserve at least some credit. With go Merys prescription in hand Martin can then attempt to further break from the part yes Chretien past and save the Liberal Brand by pledging to do something completely trans formative cleaning up politics in the province he has represented since 1988. While its not politically Correct to say so the Federal game in Quebec has Long had an ugly Side that few have been willing to admit to despite evidence of wrongdoing that not Only spans the Chretien years but also those of the Mulroney tories. Certainly Chretien would never admit there was something Rotten in his Home province. After All to do so would be to concede that there was something most foul about the Way he ran the party and his government. But Martin will have Little option but to take on Quebec style politics if he wants to save his prime minister ship. The Only question now is whether voters will wait Long enough for Martin to become that wire Brush. And if they dont the Martin will have inadvertently achieved the trans formative change he once talked about by ending the Liberal lock on Power that Only two years earlier had appeared to be never ending. Paul Samyn is the free press National reporter. His e mail address is Paul. Samyn free press. My. Ca wait. Lets look on the Bright Side National report Paul Samyn ;