ISL 2021 Staff Development Seminar

In 2019, the City of Richmond (the City) partnered with Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) retained ISL Engineering and Land Services, in association with G. Ho Engineering Consultants, in undertaking a City-wide Review of Collision Prone Intersections. The study was conducted using a systematic process based on the Transportation Association of Canada Canadian Guide to In-service Road Safety Review, which uses insurance claims records and traffic volume data to assess the risk and potential to mitigate motorist, pedestrian and cyclist collisions. The study is a holistic city-wide review of all intersections to identify those locations with the highest risk of collisions. The project objective was to identify and prioritize high collision prone intersections within Richmond and determine where potential short-term and medium-/long-term road safety improvement investments should be directed to achieve the greatest safety benefits.

 The initial screening began with the 818 intersections (50% of all intersections) for which ICBC collision data is available (total of 22,373 claims for the 2013-2017 period).  As per the claims data, 82% of the collisions (18,288) occurred at signalized intersections; subsequent analysis focused on these 161 signalized intersections. The 161 signalized intersections were further screened based on safety performance indicators.  The Annual Collision Frequency criteria resulted in 47 high collision intersections, which represent 29% of the 161 signalized intersections but account for 65% of the collisions.  The Secondary Screening involving the subsequent safety performance indicators, resulted in 20 intersections (2.4% of all Richmond intersections with collision data), which account for 23% of all ICBC claims in Richmond over the five-year period. Field reviews of the selected 20 intersections as well as a detailed collision analysis using three-year data (2015-2017) to establish the most up-to-date collision patterns and identify the intersection improvements. The Safety Review Report included intersection layout, traffic volumes, collision pattern with information of fatal collisions, field review observations and identified safety issues & potential improvements (short-term and medium-/long-term).