• Canada's Road Safety Targets
• National Target
• Sub-targets
• Canada's Action Plan
• Restraint Use
• Drinking and Driving
• High-Risk Road Use
• Analysis
• Product
• Promotion
• Legislation
• Enforcement
• Speed and Intersection Safety Management
• Motor Carrier Safety
• Key Road Safety Partners
• Safer Vehicles
• Safer Roads
• The Decade Ahead

Canada's Road Safety Targets

Recognizing the challenges that Canada’s road safety community faces, Road Safety Vision 2010 incorporates the goal and strategies of the inaugural plan with a national target and several sub-targets. The majority of the world’s safest countries have tough long-term road safety targets in place. The efforts of Canada’s road safety community to develop and implement effective strategies are intended to achieve this same level of success.

Top

National Target

The national target calls for decreases of 30% in the average numbers of road users killed or seriously injured during the 2008-2010 period (compared to 1996-2001).

Top

Sub-targets

In addition to the overall national target, Road Safety Vision 2010 contains a number of sub-targets reflecting Canada’s major road safety problem areas.

Targets have been identified to increase seat belt and proper child restraint use; reduce casualties resulting from non-use of restraint systems, drinking and driving, speed- and intersection-related crashes, and high-risk road user behaviour; and decrease casualties resulting from crashes occurring on rural roadways or involving young drivers or riders, vulnerable road users and commercial carriers.

Achieving or surpassing the Vision’s overall national target will result not only in considerably safer road travel, but also in a savings of thousands of lives, a substantially lower serious injury toll and considerable reductions in societal costs during the time frame of the plan.

Top

Canada’s Action Plan

In the fall of 2001, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators responded to the challenges outlined in Road Safety Vision 2010, as a number of its task forces, comprising key stakeholders within Canada’s road safety community, took ownership of the various sub-targets. It must be mentioned that the overlapping nature of the sub-targets has resulted in a number of task forces carrying out activities supporting several of these goals. The working groups and the sub-targets they have adopted are outlined in the table entitled Road Safety Vision 2010 Action Plans.

Top

Restraint Use

Children are not the problem among fatally injured occupants who were not using a restraint system

Important initiatives recently introduced or currently being considered by the National Occupant Restraint Program Task Force (NORP 2010) include:

• development of a business case for the adoption of measures aimed at increasing restraint use to 95%;
   
• development of a marketing plan for a national advertising campaign on seat belts and child safety seat use;
   
• development of public education efforts focusing on the use of booster seats for children who have outgrown child safety seats, but for whom adult seat belts are not appropriate; and requiring that children under 13 years of age be transported in the back seat of vehicles;
   
• provision of improved education material directed at specific target groups, most notably the police, road safety partners, the public, the judiciary and drivers;
   
• removal of all exemptions for non-use of seat belts and the establishment or enhancement of demerit point systems for non-wearers, as well as increased fines;
   
• focusing of education and enforcement initiatives on high-risk rural locations (based on collision statistics);
   
• development of a national training program on the proper use of child safety seats;
   
• creation of a national standardized toolkit that can be used by all jurisdictions to develop community-based programs for assessing seat belt use;
   
• development of a rural seat belt wearing survey to complement the seat belt use survey currently conducted annually by Transport Canada in predominantly urban areas; and
   
• development of a rural seat belt wearing strategy based on results of the above survey, which would assess the factors associated with consistently lower seat belt wearing rates among rural populations.

Top

Drinking and Driving

The Strategy to Reduce Impaired Driving Task Force (STRID 2010) plans to target its intervention efforts at four specific groups: hard-core drinking drivers, new or young drivers, social drinkers and first-time convicted drivers.

Education and awareness activities being considered to achieve the STRID 2010 targets include:

• educating police, justice departments and the judiciary on the nature and management of drinking and driving and the consequences of such behaviour;
   
• identifying the costs associated with drinking and driving;
   
• undertaking high-visibility enforcement and awareness campaigns during peak seasons;
   
• establishing focused campaigns for targeted audiences;
   
• implementing and maintaining awareness programs in schools from kindergarten through to Grade 12 (K-12) with appropriately targeted messaging; and
   
• developing a centrally coordinated communications plan that includes methods for the development and delivery of program information.

The STRID 2010 Task Force has also identified a number of important recommendations pertaining to the role of police agencies in alleviating the drinking and driving problem, including:

• training more police officers to become drug recognition experts, who can train others, and to make more extensive use of Field Sobriety Tests;
   
• streamlining procedures for processing drinking drivers;
   
• encouraging officers to lay more Criminal Code charges for impaired driving, rather than imposing short-term suspensions;
   
• encouraging the use of passive sensors as an aid for identifying drinking drivers;
   
• partnering with other police agencies in the delivery of a nationally coordinated enforcement and awareness campaign targeting drinking and driving and repeat offenders; and
   
• lobbying governments for increased police resources to raise the perceived risk of apprehension for drinking and driving.

Alcohol use is a major contributing factor among all age categories of fatally injured drivers

Policy and legislative initiatives in place in some jurisdictions, and recommended for all provinces and territories, include:

• recording and tracking roadside administrative licence suspensions on driver records;
   
• making it an offence to refuse a Field Sobriety Test;
    
• introducing escalating sanctions, based on the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level, to provincial regulations;
   
• widening the look-back window for drinking and driving sanctions to 10 years;
   
• introducing reduced BAC thresholds for drivers who have been convicted of a drinking and driving offence;
   
• using technological innovations, such as alcohol ignition interlock devices, with periodic monitoring, as a component of a relicensing program;
   
• introducing administrative licence suspensions of 90 days if a driver’s BAC level exceeds 80 mg% or if a driver refuses a breath or blood test;
   
• using vehicle-based sanctions, such as vehicle impoundment;
   
• removing exemptions for work permits;
   
• implementing minimum licence suspensions of one, three and five years for first, second and third or subsequent convictions for impaired driving within a 10-year look-back window;
   
• mandating server training programs as a condition of obtaining and maintaining a liquor licence; and
   
• introducing mandatory assessment and rehabilitation programs for all drinking driving offenders, as well as a timely follow-up.

The STRID 2010 Task Force also plans to:

• forge closer ties with the medical, injury prevention, police and judicial communities to facilitate research, develop strategies and assist jurisdictions in the implementation of selective elements of STRID 2010;
   
• undertake research and conduct night-time roadside surveys to determine the magnitude of the impairment by drugs problem; and
   
• examine other areas of impairment such as driver distraction and fatigue.

Top

High-Risk Road Use

The Canadian road safety community targets focused intervention efforts at high-risk road users. This segment of society exhibits patterns of road use behaviour that the task forces are attempting to modify: non-use of seat belts, drinking and driving, driving at unsafe or excessive speeds and running red lights or stop signs.

The High-Risk Driver Task Force is planning to use the APPLE model - Analysis, Product, Promotion, Legislation and Enforcement -
to curb dangerous road user behaviour among this most difficult-to-reach segment of society. Initiatives and strategies that are currently being developed or that have been proposed to achieve the targets include:

Analysis:

• identifying three main high-risk groups - drivers less than 25 years of age, hard-core drinking drivers (BAC greater or equal to 160 mg% or repeat offenders) and drivers with three previous collisions or violations within a two-year period;
   
• developing a common methodology that enables all jurisdictions to determine the size of their high-risk driver population and crash involvement records; and
   
• sharing violation and collision records among Canadian jurisdictions.

Product:

• targeting behaviour change through promotional, legislative and enforcement measures; and
   
• developing driver improvement programs.

Promotion:

• creating tailored messages, networks and distribution channels for each high-risk driver sub-group.

Legislation:

• minimizing delays in prosecution and removing loopholes allowing accused drivers to be acquitted;
   
• increasing the severity of sanctions to act as real deterrents for repeat offenders;
   
• for young drivers, implementing or reinforcing graduated licensing schemes (GLS), including zero tolerance for any blood alcohol levels and lower demerit point restrictions for licence revocation; introducing or reinforcing "exit tests" based on detection of risky behaviour and at-risk situations; increasing the length of suspensions for repeat offenders; issuing no restricted, temporary or work licences to drivers suspended under GLS; and encouraging group awareness sessions for first-time suspended drivers still in the GLS program;
   
• for hard-core drinking drivers, increasing the level of detection through improved police training and enforcement; implementing an alcohol ignition interlock program after a minimum suspension period; mandating driving assessment for all high BACs (greater or equal to 160 mg%) and repeat offenders, and requiring a satisfactory evaluation before re-issuing a regular licence; tracking all alcohol-related short-term suspensions; considering legislation allowing random breath testing as part of publicly announced roadblock operations; and re-issuing licences that are probationary (zero BAC) for a minimum of two years;
   
• for drivers with a record of three previous distinct events, modifying the current demerit point systems by introducing driver improvement programs that consider both violations and crashes; imposing tougher sanctions for second and third events, and imposing them sooner; and re-issuing licences that are probationary (zero BAC + 1 event maximum) for a minimum of two years; and
   
• for all three groups, introducing vehicle impoundment for driving while disqualified.

Enforcement:

• publicizing enforcement initiatives (e.g., Selective Traffic Enforcement Programs);
   
• developing strategies for briefing the judiciary and senior police officials; and
   
• significantly increasing the level of detection, through conventional means or automated enforcement.

Top

Speed and Intersection Safety Management

Although road safety issues pertaining to unsafe or excessive speeds or to intersection safety are often overshadowed by concerns relating to non-use of seat belts and alcohol use, police frequently cite these two areas as significant factors that contribute to traffic deaths.

The Speed and Intersection Safety Management Task Force (SISM) has proposed the use of four core strategies that focus on education/awareness, research, road infrastructure/standards and enforcement to meet the targets pertaining to speed and intersection safety. They include:

• increasing the knowledge and understanding of road users concerning the risks and consequences of speeding or ignoring traffic
  controls;
   
• increasing public awareness of the risk of apprehension for such unsafe driving behaviours;
   
• developing key messages for road users;
   
• developing best practices for program development including education and police enforcement;
   
• undertaking research to more fully understand the motivation behind unsafe driving practices;
   
• forging agreements among members of the road safety community to establish a cooperative approach to researching topics of mutual interest, and to maximize the use of limited research funds;
   
• supporting the development of national standards for speed limits by roadway type;
   
• supporting the development of a consistent national process for the collection of crash data;
   
• supporting the development of road infrastructure standards and improvements that will contribute to crash reduction;
   
• making optimal use of enforcement resources; and
   
• coordinating enforcement activities with public education and awareness initiatives that focus on the safe interaction of drivers and vulnerable road users.

Top

Motor Carrier Safety

More than half of all other drivers involved in fatal crashes with commercial vehicles were charged with driving infractions

The CCMTA Standing Committee on Compliance and Regulatory Affairs recognizes that making commercial vehicle travel even safer will contribute greatly to the objectives of Road Safety Vision 2010.

Initiatives that have recently been developed or implemented as part of the National Safety Code - a set of 15 standards governing safe commercial vehicle operation - include:

• a revised commercial driver hours of service regime;
   
• a commercial carrier safety rating system, which rates carriers, identifies problem operators and provides mechanisms to remove unsafe operators from the road;
   
• a North American load securement standard, implemented in partnership with the United States;
   
• a commercial vehicle roadside inspection and inspector training program, which contains nationally standardized enforcement rules and protocols aimed at improving the mechanical fitness of commercial vehicles;
   
• an enhanced commercial driver licence administration program to facilitate availability, accessibility and standardization of information related to commercial driver performance; and
   
• a National Safety Code trip inspection standard aimed at streamlining requirements for commercial drivers to conduct daily vehicle inspections.

Crash Involvement Rates Per Billion Kilometres Travelled - Commercial Vehicles Versus All Other Vehicles, 1999

Initiatives that have recently been proposed or that are being considered by the CCMTA Standing Committee on Compliance and Regulatory Affairs, and for which strategies are being developed include:

• a national education, publicity and enforcement campaign targeting safe interaction between other road users and commercial vehicles;
   
• improved (more comprehensive and techno-logically advanced) data capture and reporting protocols for commercial vehicles;
   
• a protocol to make shippers and carriers jointly liable in cases of overweight offences and hours of service infractions;
   
• a national commercial driver licence infrastructure to ensure driver competency;
   
• a fatigue management program that facilitates understanding of the rules and provides ease of enforcement; and
   
• a carrier excellence program, which recognizes and rewards carriers that have demonstrated exemplary safety performance.

Top

Key Road Safety Partners

Parallel efforts by other stakeholders with a strong interest in road safety in Canada are also contributing to the achievement of the goals of the Vision.

Canada’s enforcement community has assumed a very proactive role to help meet the targets. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well as some provincial and municipal police forces have incorporated Road Safety Vision 2010’s targets into their business plans and are actively developing enforcement strategies. They are realigning resources and establishing performance measurement plans to help meet the targets.

In the future, efforts must also be made to actively engage other key stakeholders, including Canada’s municipalities, the health community and non-governmental organizations, in activities supporting the targets of the Vision initiative.

Top

Safer Vehicles

Although most of the initiatives focus on road users, considerable effort is also underway to make vehicles and roads safer.

Current efforts by Transport Canada to improve existing motor vehicle safety regulations or to introduce new ones are principally focused on frontal- and lateral-impact protection, commercial trailer rear underride safety, new child seat attachment requirements and bus occupant protection. Among these regulations, one in particular stands out: a new regulation on lateral-impact protection is expected to reduce fatalities resulting from side-impact collisions by 30%. This translates into many lives saved and serious injuries averted each year, considering that more than 25% of occupant fatalities occur as a result of side-impact crashes.

Technological advancements that make vehicles safer to operate and help motorists avoid collisions are also starting to enter the market-place. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that adjust steering, throttle and brakes to compensate for driver error or inaction are now a reality. Advanced systems such as adaptive cruise control, stability control and night vision are currently offered on some new models. Future advancements may include adaptive lane-departure warning and control and obstacle avoidance systems. All these developments should help reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes in the future.

Top

Safer Roads

The coordinating efforts of the Transportation Association of Canada’s Road Safety Committee have resulted in the recent publication of a number of road engineering manuals that provide guidance to jurisdictions and communities on safer road building practices. Some of the more notable publications include a manual that outlines best practices for shoulder and centreline rumble strips; a Canadian guide on road resurfacing, rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction; a Canadian road safety audit guide; and a manual for the illumination of isolated rural intersections.

Road engineering research currently being undertaken to support the Vision’s targets includes the development of:

• a reference guide for transportation specialists that will summarize safety-related information on intersection controls, signal design and operation, traffic signs and pavement markings, as well as information on enforcement and pedestrian and cyclist safety;
   
• a Transport Canada Road Safety Web page called "Read Your Road," which is intended to inform the public about road signage and how to safely interact with vulnerable road users; and
   
• a manual of recommended practices and engineering solutions to reduce red-light running.

Top

The Decade Ahead

Canadian road safety stakeholders face a considerable challenge in achieving the Road Safety Vision 2010 targets. Despite the fact that traffic fatalities decreased by more than 20% in the past decade, Canada today is in a similar position to many of the world’s other developed countries, where the measurable pace of road safety improvements has levelled off somewhat, after almost three decades of steady progress.

Canada’s road safety community has responded to the challenge. Task forces comprising road safety experts from government, industry and non-governmental organizations are taking steps to better understand the obstacles they must overcome and are developing appropriate interventions in order to achieve the targets of Road Safety Vision 2010.

Now, the Canadian public must also do its part. The cost of complacency is too high: more than 2,900 road users were killed and more than 227,000 were injured in crashes in the year 2000. To reduce this toll of deaths and injuries and to achieve the targets of Road Safety Vision 2010, Canadians must embrace the new interventions and make more concerted efforts to follow safe road use practices.

The text of this publication may be reproduced without permission provided the source is credited.

© Minister of Public Works and Government Services, 2002

Published in June 2002

ISBN 0-662-32196-0 / Catalogue No.: T45-1/2001-1E / TP 13347 E