Heather Wright/The Independent

Lambton County is backing a call to improve rural roads to reduce the risk of accidents.

Scott Butler, executive director of the Good Roads Association, says in 2023, there were 616 people killed in Ontario and over 36,000 injured. That number is up 20 per cent in the last 10 years.

Of the people who were killed on Ontario roads, 426 were on municipal roads. “While rural Ontario only represents 17 per cent of the province’s population, 55 per cent of these deaths occurred on rural roads,” says Butler in a letter to council. “By any measure, Ontario’s rural roads are disproportionately more dangerous.”

Jason Cole, general manager of infrastructure and planning for Lambton County, says the Good Roads Association wants the province to fund a five year, $183 million program to identify and repair problem areas.

“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,” writes Butler.

Cole says there was a similar program in the US. “It was very successful. It had a huge uptake in the United States and Good Roads would like to see the provincial government support a similar program here with targeted money towards those types of improvements.”

Cole says in Lambton County, there are between five and 10 collisions a year that result in one or more deaths.

Cole says the support from the province would be extremely helpful to reduce the fatalities. “We feel this is an important aspect for us at the county as well as at the local municipalities, to really help improve that safety of our roadways in Lambton County.”

County councillors agreed and decided Nov. 20 to send a letter to the province asking for the program to be implemented.