11-12-2024 - No. 21 I ss:Ati" II II
CITY OF. CANADA
NIAGARA FALLS_
The City of Niagara Falls, Ontario
Resolution
Resolution No. 21 November 12, 2024
The Honourable Doug Ford
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building, Queen's Park
Toronto, ON M7A 1A1
premier(d ontario.ca
Sent by e-mail: premierpontario.ca
Motion Respecting the Establishment of an Ontario Rural Road Safety Program
Too many Ontarians are being seriously injured or killed on our roads.
In 2023, there were 616 people killed and 36,090 people injured. The number of
fatalities is up nearly 20% in the last ten years.
In 2021, the most recent year of complete data from MTO's Ontario Road Safety
Annual Report (ORSAR), there were 561 fatalities — 426 of which occurred on
municipal roads. While rural Ontario only represents 17% of the province's
population, 55% of these deaths occurred on rural roads. By any measure,
Ontario's rural roads are disproportionately more dangerous.
At the same time, municipal insurance premiums continue to increase. With no
plausible reform being considered for joint and several liability, municipalities
need to find innovative means for managing risk, particularly on their roadways,
To deal with this crisis, Good Roads has designed a multifaceted rural road
safety program and have been in discussions with the Ministry of Transportation
to fund it. The program would target a municipality's most dangerous roads,
perform road safety audits, and install modern safety infrastructure that prevents
serious injuries and save lives. This program is designed to be cost effective
while also providing rural municipalities with a direct means for addressing risk
associated with their roadways.
Good Roads has proposed leading a five-year $183 million program that
leverages our 131 years of municipal road expertise and our industry
partnerships to quickly put in place the solutions that will address some of
Ontario's most dangerous roads.
Good Roads is seeking support to address these preventable tragedies.
The City of Niagara Falls' Council has supported the following resolution:
WHEREAS official statistics from the Government of Ontario
confirm that rural roads are inherently more dangerous than other
roads;
AND WHEREAS, despite only having 17% of the population, 55%
of the road fatalities occur on rural roads;
AND WHEREAS, rural, northern, and remote municipalities are
fiscally strained by maintaining extensive road networks on a
smaller tax base;
AND WHEREAS, preventing crashes reduces the burden on
Ontario's already strained rural strained health care system;
AND WHEREAS, roadway collisions and associated lawsuits are
significant factors in runaway municipal insurance premiums.
Preventing crashes can have a significant impact in improving
municipal risk profiles;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of Niagara Falls
requests that the Government of Ontario take action to implement
the rural road safety program that Good Roads has committed to
lead. It will allow Ontario's rural municipalities to make the critical
investments needed to reduce the high number of people being
killed and seriously injured on Ontario's rural roads; and
FURTHER THAT a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Premier
Doug Ford, Hon. Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation,
Hon. King Surma, Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Rob Flack,
Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Lisa Thompson, Minister of Rural
Affairs, Hon. Trevor Jones, Associate Minister of Emergency
Preparedness and Response, and Hon. Sylvia Jones, Minister of
Health, and Good Roads; and
FURTHER THAT this resolution be circulated to all municipalities in
Ontario requesting their support.
AND The Seal of the Corporation be hereto affixed. Carried Unanimously
eeig"*: 110•4",017.1".
WILLIAM G. MATSON, CITY CLERK JAMES M. DIODATI, MAYOR
If any further information is required, please contact the undersigned at 905-356-7521, x4342.
Yours Truly,
Bill Matson
City Clerk, City of Niagara Falls