CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER DISMAYED AT 2007 TRAFFIC FATALITY COUNT - WANTS ROADHEALTH COALITION TO SET PRIORITIES

Dr. David Bowering is expressing his concern and dismay at the final traffic fatality count for the Northern Health region in 2007.  "70 people died on our northern roads last year", he said.  "That should be unacceptable.  If 70 people in our region dies from a virus or epidemic in a single year, it would not be business as usual.  There would be a major effort on the part of government agencies and the public to figure out what was going on, what the causes are, and how to prevent it."  Instead, he says, we tend to simply note it and move on.

Dr. Bowering says that the health authorities and government need to start looking at motor vehicle crashes as a public health issue, and treat it as a preventable disease.  Millions of dollars go into public health planning against a pandemic outbreak of something like the avian flu, and yet a condition that continually kills hundreds of people a year in BC gets relatively little attention.

The final month of 2007 was particularly bad for crashes, with 11 people killed on the roads.  Winter conditions were cited by RCMP in many of the crashes, people either driving too fast for conditions, or not having adequate tires on their vehicles.  Other major contributing factors to crashes continue to be drugs & alcohol and speed.

"Our RoadHealth coalition has to set some priorities to address speed, road maintenance and proper tire use", says Bowering.  "And we need to engage the other health Authorities to get on board with us".

The RoadHealth coalition, which consits of Northern Health, the BC Forest Safety Council, the Ministry of Forests & Range, Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement (CVSE), the RCMP, the BC Coroner's Service, WorkSafeBC and ICBC, has been working together for two years to coordinate public education and crash prevention activities.  Those activities include the "Sharing the Road" media campaign that has reached over 1,000,000 radio listeners throughout the province, conferences and the RoadHealth grant program.

Dr. David Bowering, Chief Medical Officer, Northern Health