Mr. Speaker, the health and safety of our people is a priority for each of us here. I rise today to give you an example of what we can accomplish when individuals take up the challenge to be safer every day and make smart choices.
Prevention, education and awareness are priorities for this Assembly and the work is showing encouraging results. The year 2011 was a very safe year on our roads, trails and waterways. For the first time on record, there were no fatal collisions. There were no pedestrians or snowmobilers killed. No one was involved in a fatal ATV collision. And there were no drownings.
Moreover, the number of severe injuries related to vehicle collisions in 2011 was the lowest ever. You can, in fact, count them on one hand. All of this is good news and Northwest Territories residents can be proud of these safety records.
We can continue this positive trend by wearing our seatbelts, ensuring our children are properly restrained in an infant car seat, child car seat or booster seat, driving without distractions, and wearing our helmets while riding bicycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and skateboards. When on the water, we need to be wearing our lifejackets, instead of leaving them on the floor of the boat.
And while I am mentioning the importance of wearing lifejackets, I want to acknowledge the enormous contribution by the Member for Weledeh during the filming for our Drowning Prevention program. I know that his willingness to speak on camera about his personal tragedy, the account of how a lifejacket saved his life while his father and a family friend perished, touched the hearts of everyone who saw it. I applaud his courage and I want to acknowledge and thank him for that service.
Drive Alive, the department’s public awareness and safety information program, will continue to remind us all to make smart safe choices throughout the year through campaigns such as Leave the Phone Alone and Buckle Up NWT.
At the same time, the department will continue to make improvements to the transportation system that will help keep travellers safe such as increasing signage, straightening and widening our highways and installing guardrails. The department will also continue to improve surface conditions and inform the travelling public of road conditions more quickly, efficiently and effectively.
I ask all Members to join me in congratulating NWT residents for contributing to the success in 2011, and committing to safe travel and recreation in 2012. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
