Canada Meets Road Safety Challenge

Canada's driving environment is quite different from that faced by drivers in these European and Scandinavian countries. Our geography presents much longer travel distances and a wider variety of road conditions. Road safety regulation is centralized in these smaller countries. In Canada, traffic regulation is a provincial responsibility, with the result that some approaches (such as photo enforcement) are not uniformly implemented across all jurisdictions. As well, we have one of the highest ratios of car ownership in the world, with close to one vehicle for every two Canadians.

Driving Casualties Down

Statistics from Transport Canada show a continuing downward trend. In 2001, there were 2,778 traffic fatalities, down five per cent from 2000. While this still seems like a very high number, it represents a drop of one-third since 1982, when there were 4,169 fatalities.

Injuries have not decreased as dramatically as fatalities — 225,717 in 1982, compared with 221,158 in 2001. The number of licensed drivers increased by almost 40 per cent during that 20 year period, which means the rate of injury today is lower.

Despite impressive progress, across Canada there are still more than 50 deaths and 600 injuries a week due to road crashes. Transport Canada's Road Safety Vision 2010 aims to reduce Canada's road fatalities to fewer than 2,100 by 2010.

Vigorous enforcement, supported by public education will be critical to achieve this ambitious goal. Data from 2001 confirm the priorities currently being addressed by jurisdictions across Canada. For example:

Seat-belts - While 90 per cent of motorists regularly buckle up, almost 40 per cent of those killed and nearly 20 per cent of those seriously injured were not restrained.

Impaired Driving - Close to 30 per cent of all driver fatalities were legally impaired. Of these about 70 per cent had BACs more than twice the legal limit.

Seniors - One-third of pedestrian fatalities were 65 years of age or over. (Based on kilometres driven, studies show that senior drivers also have an above-average rate of collisions.)

Ontario the Lowest Fatality Rate

Fewer people died on Ontario roads in 2001 than in any year since 1950. While the number killed in crashes is still high, at 845, Ontario's fatality rate was the lowest in North America. Credit is due to ongoing, pro-active efforts by the provincial government and its many partners to improve driver behaviour, vehicle condition and infrastructure safety.

In 1972, the traffic fatality rate was at its highest, 5.24 deaths per 10,000 drivers, compared with 1.02 for every 10,000 drivers in 2001.

The Ontario Road Safety Annual Report provides a breakdown of factors involved in the collisions. This data base enables the province to target the most dangerous driving behaviours and situations. Other provinces also keep details on motor vehicle collisions. These reports serve as a valuable basis for establishing safety priorities.

For example, 149 (18 per cent) of Ontario road fatalities in 2001 involved speeding above the limit or too fast for conditions. In addition, 72 fatalities involved drivers who failed to yield right-of-way, and a further 69 involved drivers who disobeyed a traffic control.

Unity On Road Safety

From seat-belt legislation to graduated licensing, Canadian jurisdictions have implemented effective safety measures over the years. At the federal level, our impaired driving legislation is among the strictest in the world. Vigorous enforcement of these laws and regulations is critical for ongoing progress.

Among the targets in Canada's Road Safety Vision 2010 are to reduce casualties resulting from non-use of restraint systems, drinking and driving, speed- and intersection-related crashes, and high-risk road user behaviour. Action is being taken on these and other priorities. For example, a Speed and Intersection Safety Management Task Force has proposed strategies that focus on education/awareness, research, road infrastructure/standards and enforcement to address speeding and intersection safety.

Political issues can be controversial among jurisdictions. However, there is nation-wide agreement on key strategies for road safety. Having the safest roads in the world is an ambitious goal, and one to which governments at all levels are committed.

2001 Ontario Road Safety Annual Report
Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics 2001
PRI-News, January 2003, OECD statistics

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