Over 400 dead in 15 years on Niagara roads

In the past 15 years more than 400 people have been killed on Niagara region roads. But as we approach the warm weather months — the worst season for traffic fatalities — there is some positive news. The number of people killed and seriously injured is trending downward.

It was one year ago this week that 21-year old Brittany Masonovich was killed in a horrific crash in Thorold. The man driving her car was speeding down the road and slammed into a tree.

Mary Masonovich is Brittany’s mom: “We just miss her. And she was a beautiful girl. She had lots of friends and everybody misses her.”

More than half of the women who’ve died on Niagara roads since 1999 were killed by someone else. Until this, Brittany’s mother Mary had never been concerned about her
daughter being on the road: “After this happened, I started looking in the paper of all the accident going on. I couldn’t eblieve it.”

Nearly two thirds of fatal collisions in Niagara involve single vehicles. More than half of those are on rural roads. The summer months are the most deadly.

Niagara Deputy Chief Brian MacCullough: “So we’re coming up to a time where increased vigilance is required. And driver error is the number one cause of those fatalities.”

One of the worst crashes happened two years ago in Pelham when three young men from Dunnville were killed in a crash on Highway 20. It was late at night. More young people die in night crashes, seniors during the day.

An 84-year old St. Catharines woman was killed over the weekend on Highway 3 in Wainfleet. Highways 3 and 58 here in Thorold and the other OPP patrolled highways in Niagara are not included in this report. Police say if they were, the fatalitity rate would increase by about 15-20 deaths a year.

Over the past five years the number of driver error and alcohol related crashes have gone down. Niagara Deputy Chief Brian MacCullough attributes that primarily to police cracking down on bad drivers: “Anything we can do to reduce the number of fatalities, we will do.”

The fatality numbers are declining — from 39, 12-years ago to 22 last year. More middle-aged people are dying on Niagara roads — surprisingly during this time of day, between three and nine pm, when they’re rushing home from work.