The nature of automobile collisions once again piqued the interest of members of the Bradford West Gwillimbury/Innisfil Police Services Board earlier this week.
South Simcoe Police Service Deputy Chief Sheryl Sutton provided the operational update for February during the meeting at the South Division building in Bradford on March 19.
While February 2023 saw 167 motor vehicle collisions, February 2024 saw that decrease to 125 with 73 in Bradford and 52 Innisfil. Of those, 111 resulted in property damage, five involved a hit-and-run, nine resulted in injury and one was fatal.
While the majority of collisions in Bradford continue to be along Holland Street West with 13 incidents, the intersection of Bridge and Dissette streets was also a bit of a hot spot with nine crashes.
In response to a question from board chair Chris Gariepy about the nature of the collisions along Holland Street, the deputy explained most are related to intersections or driveways where people are trying to turn onto or off of the street.
“It’s not unexpected as that is the main thoroughfare in our community of Bradford,” she said. “Everyone is in a rush to get somewhere.”
Sutton also explained that she had looked into the frequency with which collisions are reported at one particular address, 545 Holland St. W., at which multiple crashes are counted each month, including five this past February.
It turns out, that address is used not only to refer to the nearby intersection, but also the Walmart parking lot, where those collision “predominately” occur according to the deputy chief.
Similarly, the intersection of Dissette and Bridge is used to refer not only to collisions within the intersection but at the nearby driveways as well.
A majority of collisions in Innisfil were along Yonge Street, particularly at the intersection with Line 6.
“It’s kind of a blind hill there,” Sutton said.
In anticipation of a potential future interchange along Line 6 with Highway 400, Gariepy is hoping to see the intersection with Yonge signalized.
In response, Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin explained that while the county is considering taking over responsibility for Line 6 eventually, her town is still “pro-actively” planning what could be done, with traffic signals being one option.
February breakdown
The report showed 2,410 calls for service in February 2024, only slightly more than the 2,361 calls in February 2023.
This February saw 54.26 per cent in Bradford where Patrol Zones E and D were busiest, and 45.74 per cent in Innisfil, where Patrol Zone B was busiest.
Patrol Zone E is in Bradford from Holland Street south, and Patrol Zone D is in Bradford from Holland Street north, while Patrol Zone B is in Innisfil east of Sideroad 10 between lines 5 and 9.
As is usual, only 29 of February’s calls for service were deemed highest priority.
There were some areas in which calls increased in February 2024 compared to February 2023, including:
- Assaults increased to 16 — including two assaults with weapon — from seven
- Stolen vehicles increased to 14 from seven
- Thefts from vehicles increased to eight from six
- Domestics increased to 60 from 50
- Fraud increased to 30 from 23
Most of those fraud calls related to online activity and cryptocurrency scams, according to Sutton, who called those incidents “very, very hard to investigate,” and anticipates those numbers “are just going to go up.”
“It’s becoming quite prevalent, no matter how much media we do,” she said. “If it’s too good to be true, then it is.”
Calls for residential break and enters increased to four from three, while commercial break and enters decreased to four from six.
Other areas in which calls decreased in February 2024 compared to February 2023, include:
- Mental health calls decreased to 11 from 21
- Impaired decreased to 20 from 26
- Provincial offence notices decreased to 663 from 725
- Landlord disputes decreased slightly to six from seven
Crisis calls
Crisis calls decreased again in February to 39, compared to 49 in January, with 10 of February’s calls handled by the Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST), while 29 were handled by front-line officers.
While 16 calls resulted in people being taken to hospital, 23 were diverted.
“That’s a really good number to be looking at,” Sutton said. “Certainly our COAST unit is making an impact and a lot of these calls are being diverted.”
Of those who were taken to hospital, seven went voluntarily.
The average wait times for officers offloading patients at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie decreased slightly to two hours from 2.4 hours in January, with Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket seeing an even smaller decrease to 1.4 hours from 1.5 hours in January.
Under certain circumstances, officers who encounter people in crisis may take them to hospital for assessment, but must remain with them until they are admitted.
