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The numbers are chilling: last year alone, Alberta
roads saw 113,357 collisions and 26,426 injuries — and claimed 385 lives.
Improving road safety, it appears, needs to be addressed in Alberta.
The University of Calgary's Department of Civil Engineering believes it. In
partnership with the Alberta Motor Association, the department hopes to do research
that will ultimately help reduce those numbers.
As part of its 75th Anniversary Legacy Project, the motor association has
committed $750,000 towards an endowment fund for Canada's first Road Safety Research
Chair. The U of C chair will lead an inter-disciplinary team, which will focus
on the complexities of road engineering, vehicle design, driver behaviours and
other traffic safety factors.
The move comes in the wake of a provincial injection of cash into Alberta
roadways. As well, a worldwide search was made for internationally renowned,
senior researchers with outstanding reputations in road safety. The initiative
also wants endowment funds to top $3 million, to guarantee funding in perpetuity.
Dr. Tom Brown, P.Eng., professor and head of the Department of Civil Engineering
at the U of C, is a leading supporter of the road safety chair. “The university
already has a strong transportation engineering group, which includes the department
of psychology, and the Van Horne Institute for International Transportation and
Regulatory Affairs, along with various engineering departments. This makes it
an ideal home for the chair.”
Named to the chair is Dr. Richard Tay, recently with the Centre for Accident
Research and Road Safety at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia.
“This is a timely and relevant appointment,” says Don Szarko of
the Alberta Motor Association. “Our partnership with the Department of
Civil Engineering is a positive step towards increasing the safety of Alberta
roadways.”
Industry, governments and academic institutions will be the primary beneficiaries
of this chair, says a U of C news release. A home team of safety expertise will
serve Alberta's needs. And it will also position Alberta as a leader in road
safety research and as an exporter of knowledge and expertise in the area.
It's expected that new initiatives in road safety will be tested within Alberta,
resulting in collaboration between industry, municipalities and provincial agencies.
That, in turn, should spur the development of local and exportable expertise.
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