Prepared For:
The Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators,
Standing Committee on Road Safety Research and Policies
Prepared by:
Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Regulation Directorate, Transport
Canada |
TP 13951 E
ISBN : 0-662-42006-3
Cat. no : T46-31/2003E
May 2006
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How to get the full report
SUMMARY
Fatalities and injuries have declined about 15 percent between 1994 and 2003 and
5.6 percent from 2002 to 2003. However, an average of 3,000 people died annually
on Canadian roads and accounted for 95 percent of the transportation fatalities
nationwide.
The majority of fatal collisions occurred on rural roads. Fifty percent of fatal
collisions were single-vehicle. There were more fatal collisions overnight on
weekends than any other time and more during the summer than any other season.
Most collisions, regardless of severity, occurred on dry roads and in clear
weather.
The large majority of fatalities were motor vehicle occupants and most of the
occupant fatalities were drivers. Males accounted for the largest proportion of
total fatalities and were overrepresented as fatally injured drivers. About 40
percent of fatally injured occupants had not been wearing seat belts at the time
of the collision. Drivers aged 24 years and younger tended to be involved in
fatal and injury collisions more often than older drivers. Drinking and driving
was still a major problem and 32 percent of the fatally injured drivers tested
had been legally impaired at the time of the collision.
The injury outcome for children improved, especially those less than 15 years of
age. Child pedestrians under 10 years old had the greatest reduction in
fatalities. School bus travel continued to be very safe, but school age
pedestrians were the most frequent fatalities in those collisions. However,
among bicyclists, males aged 5 to 14 years were the most often injured or killed
despite an overall decline in bicyclist fatalities.
Fatalities among senior road users 65 years and older declined from 1994 to
2003; however, these fatalities were overrepresented in 2003. Road users aged 45
to 54 years were the only age group with increased fatalities over ten years,
but were underrepresented in fatalities in 2003. Even though pedestrian deaths
and injuries declined overall, in 2003, pedestrians aged 65 and older were
overrepresented in the fatalities. Most pedestrians were killed in urban areas
and half of the urban pedestrian fatalities occurred at intersections.
Fatalities for motorcyclists aged 35 and older increased over the ten-year
period despite a longer-term decline. Commercial vehicle collisions accounted
for 20 percent of all road user fatalities in 2003; however, the commercial
vehicle fatalities declined over the ten-year period.
The national target of Road Safety Vision 2010 calls for “a 30% decrease in the
average number of road users killed or seriously injured during the 2008-2010
period compared with 1996-2001 average figures”. Progress toward the target for
2003 is shown by declines of 6.7 percent and 3.0 percent for fatalities and
serious injuries, respectively, as compared to the 1996-2001 benchmark data.
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How to get the full report:
The full report on Road Safety in Canada 2003 is available in:
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