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Alberta sees big drop in crashes, but still room to improve in Calgary: study

Last Updated Dec 1, 2016 at 1:46 pm MDT

A new safe driving study finds crashes have dropped by 11.4 per cent in the province since 2015.

Allstate tracked the frequency of collisions across Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Four Alberta communities have made the list of the top 10 safest places: Spruce Grove at #1, Lethbridge at #2, Medicine Hat at #6 and St. Albert at #8.

Leduc also saw the biggest drop in collision claims across the country at 30 per cent.

“There’s more awareness about the dangers of distracted driving, paying more attention to the road conditions,” Harry Sangha, Agency Manager for Allstate in Calgary, explained.

However, Cowtown can still straighten its course.

Calgary is doing better than Edmonton, which sits at #55 on the list, but the city still sits in the middle of the pack.

“We’re #42 out of the 86 communities that took part in the study, so, that’s not terrible, but we do have room for improvement,” Sangha said.

The study found Wednesdays are the most dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists and Fridays have the highest number of collisions with vehicles.

“Obviously, you know, Friday — typically there’s more vehicles on the road at the end of the week. Maybe, you know, you had a long week, you’re tired and not fully paying attention to the road and the conditions, or maybe people are just excited to get the weekend started,” Sangha said.

Sangha says we also saw some favourable weather last winter, and snowier conditions this time around could bring up these numbers a bit.