Establishing an Integrated Road Safety System in Ottawa

In 2000, the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Service initiated a process to enhance the integration of the road safety initiatives of its internal departments (public health, engineering, communications and marketing) and police services. It was recognized that integration was key to increase efficiency and effectiveness of reducing collision frequency and severity in an environment where dollars are scarce and pressure on infrastructure is growing. In 2002, iTRANS Consulting was retained to assist the development of a program foundation, expanding on the City’s preliminary work. A framework for a sustainable Integrated Road Safety System (IRSS) was produced, including a number of key components (mission, vision, organizational structure), as well as responsibilities and functions of key personnel. All of which was packaged in a 3-year plan consisting of actions and resources enabling sustainability of the IRSS to 2005. With IRSS in hand, the City moved forward with this integrated road safety approach. In doing so, the City acknowledged the challenge of agreeing on a common vision and road safety focus areas or “emphasis areas”. The system developed by iTRANS is expected to greatly assist the City of Ottawa in achieving their collision reduction goals; goals paralleling the targets set out in Transport Canada’s Road Safety Vision 2010. This paper provides a structured look at an integrated system (referencing Ottawa’s), its components, and the process to address a road safety concern using one of the City’s potential emphasis areas, “Increasing the Safety of the City’s Young Drivers”.