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RSV 2010 - 2001 Update
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| CCMTA is a non-profit organization comprising representatives of the provincial, territorial and federal
governments of Canada which, through the collective consultative process, makes decisions on administration
and operational matters dealing with licensing, registration and control of motor vehicle transportation and
highway safety. |
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Road fatalities account for more than 90% of all
transportation-related deaths. |
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Road Safety in Canada: A Collaborative Effort
In Canada, responsibility for road safety is shared among the federal, provincial/territorial and municipal levels of government. The federal
government is responsible for the development and implementation of new motor vehicle safety standards and the
enhancement of existing standards (under authority of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act ),
as well as for interprovincial commercial vehicle safety (the Motor Vehicle Transport Act). Provinces, territories and municipalities are
responsible for highway construction and maintenance, commercial vehicle operations, driver and vehicle licensing and the development
and implementation of local safety initiatives. In addition, key non-governmental
agencies play important roles in the development and delivery of safety programs. This multi-tiered approach to road
safety has proven effective. Collectively, Canadian road safety stakeholders have made considerable progress toward making Canada’s
roadways the safest in the world.
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Canada’s Challenge
In Canada, motor vehicles are a pervasive fact of life. With 900,000 kilometres of roadways, almost 18 million registered vehicles and
more than 20 million licensed drivers, Canadians are among the most mobile people in the world. Motor vehicles enable Canadians
to overcome the fundamental challenges of the country: vast geography and a harsh climate. However, this mobility does not come
without consequences. More than 2,900 road users were killed and another 227,000 were injured in traffic collisions during 2000.
For individuals and society alike, the toll is immense. Collectively, the social cost to Canadians is at least
$10 billion per year (about 1% of GDP).
Traffic fatalities peaked in the early 1970s. Since that time, Canada’s population has grown by 40%, and
the number of vehicles has increased by 80%. Despite this increased mobility, the number of traffic
fatalities has been cut by more than half. This impressive improvement is the result of a combination of
factors, including interventions that focused on getting motorists to buckle up and to refrain
from driving after drinking, improved vehicle safety standards, safer road designs, improved
emergency medical services and tougher police enforcement measures.
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| Progress Since Road Safety Vision’s Inception
Road travel has become considerably safer as a result of initiatives introduced in support of the four strategic
objectives of the Vision.
Initiatives that have helped raise awareness of road safety issues include: |
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Road safety initiatives over the past 30 years have contributed to
steadily declining fatalities. |
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- undertakings by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to inform motorists of the benefits of
restraint use and of the dangers of driving while impaired by alcohol or other drugs, and other
high-risk driving behaviour; and
- efforts of the Canadian Coalition for Child Passenger Safety to promote proper child
restraint use.
Examples of recently introduced initiatives that have fostered improvements in
communication, cooperation and collaboration among road safety agencies include:
- the partnering of police and of provincial and federal government
agencies in the development of a survey on rural night-time alcohol use in
Alberta;
- the efforts of the road engineering community in the development and publication of manuals delineating national guidelines, such as
uniform protocols for building rumble strips and for conducting road safety audits; and
- the joint efforts of truck and bus stakeholders and federal and provincial government agencies in the development of a national
safety rating system for commercial carriers.
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Despite a growing and increasingly mobile population,
fatalities continue to decline
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| The recent adoption of the targets of Road Safety Vision 2010 into the business plans of Canada’s national police force, the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police, and of other provincial and municipal police forces will facilitate the delivery of enhanced enforcement initiatives. By
refocusing intervention efforts to be more closely aligned with the major target areas in Road Safety Vision 2010, police services will
make the most efficient use of their resources and enforcement efforts. |
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Fatalities have decreased by 6% and serious injuries
are down by 15% since 1996. |
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The recent availability of comprehensive vehicle kilometrage data from a national vehicle use survey has enabled road safety researchers to
categorically quantify long-suspected road safety problem areas. The pilot testing of a new automated computer- and communications-based
data system called System for Technological Applications in Road Safety (STARS), which automates traffic collision reporting and
related administrative functions, is underway. This is an example of a data information system that will, if
adopted throughout the country, improve national road safety data quality and collection procedures.
Collectively, road safety interventions in support of the Vision’s strategic priorities have made a difference.
Since 1996, when the Vision initiative was first introduced, the number of road users killed has
decreased by 6% and the number of seriously injured has fallen by 15%, despite steady increases
in the road user population. Canada’s level of road safety, as measured by deaths per registered
motor vehicle, has improved by 10%. Seat belt use by Canadians, which ranks among the
highest in the world, has increased slightly to 90%, and the proportion of fatally injured
drivers who had been drinking has decreased by 20% from the 1990-1995 baseline period.
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