Road Safety: Who is accountable?

Almost ten years ago the City set out to decrease by 30 per cent, the number of people killed or seriously injured on Ottawa's roads by 2010: That hasn't happened.

We are into the second quarter of 2011 yet the City's targets and road safety improvement strategies have yet to be updated. Who is accountable?  Road safety appears to be yet another aspiration collecting virtual dust on Ottawa.ca.

This is an important one to get right: Do the same, or more of the same, will only yield the same dismal, tragic results.

Perhaps if one of the City's senior management jobs was on the line (as it should be when performance targets aren't met) our roads would be much safer. Who should that be?

• Dr. Isra Levy, Chief medical officer of health 
• Kent Kirkpatrick, City manager 
• Steve Kanellakos, Deputy city manager 
• Nancy Schepers, Deputy city manager 
• Susan Jones, General manager, emergency and protective services 

The City estimates the social cost of Ottawa’s traffic collisions at approximately $800 million annually.

A once of prevention is worth a pound of cure.