Traffic safety is my number one issue. Sort of.
I completed the Town of Okotoks’ public safety survey earlier this month, primarily because it allowed me to put together a blurb to let others know that their input was being sought to determine policing priorities for the coming year. The survey is now closed.
I needed to answer one question to see what was being asked for the next, so I dutifully provided responses so I could get to the finish line. I can’t remember all the questions, but there was one early on that asked respondents about policing priorities, providing a handful of options that were to be ranked.
I can recall that property crime and illicit drug use were among the options, and I believe there was another one that had to do with assaults, but given that I hadn’t been touched by any of those issues, I ended up moving traffic safety to the top of my priority list.
If I feared for my safety or had to dodge needles on my twice-daily walk through Sheep River Park, then my list would have looked considerably different, but given that’s far from the case, traffic safety made its way to the top, largely by default.
I suspect I'm not alone in that regard as traffic enforcement turned up as the number one priority at an open house earlier this month at the Okotoks Recreation Centre, another effort by the Town to seek feedback on public safety.
I’m not suggesting traffic safety isn’t an important issue, but there’s undoubtedly a silver lining to it making its way near the top of priority lists on a regular basis. As much as it means we have some bad drivers out there – and what place doesn’t? – it also means there’s not a lot of nasty stuff happening in our town.
I don’t want to be so naive to think we live in Mayberry, but if it's a choice between catching those who commit break-ins and assaults or ticketing speeders, I’d most definitely opt for the former. Thankfully, Okotoks is among the safest towns of its size in the province, so even though there’s a certain amount of crime being committed in our midst, it doesn’t impact most people.
What does impact pretty much everyone, you ask? Bad drivers. Whether it’s speeders, tailgaters, red light runners, those who don’t yield to pedestrians or ones distracted by their phones, there are all kinds out there who aren’t complying with the rules of the road.
The irony is that it doesn’t seem to matter how much traffic enforcement is undertaken, it will continue to be an issue as long as human beings are getting behind the wheel. Okotoks Municipal Enforcement carried out more than twice as many traffic patrols in 2024 as it did the year before, handing out 58 per cent more speeding tickets, yet even after all of that, traffic enforcement is still a top issue for Okotoks residents.
Police and peace officers can’t be everywhere, so poor driving will never be stamped out, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing if it stays at the top of the priority list.
