THE TIMES THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012
Volunteers make roads safer
I
n recognition of National Volunteer Week last week, ICBC tipped its hat to 190 volunteers in Abbotsford, Mission, Hope and Boston Bar for their ongoing efforts to make their communities’ roads safer. With the support of volunteers, speed-related crashes have steadily decreased in B.C. over the last five years. Last year, local SpeedWatch program volunteers put in more than 650 hours to help reduce speed-related crashes in their communities. Volunteers use radar and speed-reader boards and unmanned trailers supplied by ICBC to show drivers how fast they’re actually traveling. “Speed boards are a very effective educational tool, as most drivers do slow down,” said Don Miller, the ICBC road safety coordinator in Abbotsford and Mission. Research shows that more than 70 per cent of drivers traveling 10 km/h over the speed limit slow down when they see a speed-reader board. There are 89 Speed Watch
groups in the province, said Miller, who is also the Speed Watch co-ordinator in B.C. “We encourage them to set up near high-crash intersections, about half a block away or so. We hope people will make better decisions when they get to the intersections, (such as) stepping on the brake instead of the gas when they see an amber light,” he said. At some set-ups, volunteers record the speed of drivers and relay that information to police officers waiting down the road. Other times, the information on speeders is passed on to local law enforcement, which sends warning letters to the registered owners. Miller is also reaching out to drivers aged 19 to 25 at trades schools to target those young adults heading into the workforce. “What we know from studies is that some are drinking or even toking up (marijuana) at job sites,” he said. On April 19, RoadSense speaker Kevin Brooks addressed students at Mission’s Riverside College.
Brooks is a young motivational speaker who became paralyzed in a car crash, which also killed his best friend. Brooks was driving drunk and speeding that night in 2000. Volunteers also support anti-crime programs such as Lock Out Auto Crime. In 2011 volunteers from Abbotsford to Boston Bar distributed more than 6,900 notices resembling parking tickets onto the windshields of vehicles, many with valuables in sight, offering common sense tips. Each year, programs help recover hundreds of stolen vehicles in B.C. Educating the public seems to work: ICBC says it’s seen an “astounding” 71 per cent decrease in vehicle thefts and 64 per cent decrease in vehicle break-ins in B.C since 2003. In the Lower Mainland, more than 2,200 volunteers spent about 100,000 hours delivering road safety programs last year. If you’d like to volunteer, Miller can be reached at 604850-8083.
ABBOTSFORD
PARADE ST
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