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Road Safety Fact Sheet
RS-2003-02E
TP2436 E
May 2003 |
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Background
The National Occupant Restraint Program is an important element of Road
Safety Vision 2010 - an ambitious partnership approved by the federal, provincial
and territorial ministers responsible for transportation and highway safety to
make Canada’s roads the safest in the world. The objective of the National
Occupant Restraint Program (NORP 2010) is to achieve a minimum 95% national seat
belt usage and the proper use of child restraints by all motor vehicle
occupants. Transport Canada’s contribution to this program of monitoring seat
belt usage is to conduct observational surveys.
In September 2002, Transport Canada conducted an observational survey of seat
belt use in rural communities across Canada. The survey was undertaken because
of evidence indicating that the majority of motor vehicle fatalities in rural
areas involve people who were not wearing seat belts. Also, a survey conducted
in rural Alberta in June 2001 found a seat belt usage rate of only 76.8% for
drivers and 73.6% for right front seat passengers of light-duty vehicles.
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Method
The September 2002 survey was the first of its kind: the first to measure the
seat belt usage rate in rural Canada only. Rural Canada was defined as towns
with a population of fewer than 10,000 but more than 1,000 that are located
outside any census metropolitan area or census agglomeration. The survey
targeted front seat occupants of passenger cars, light pick-up trucks and
minivans. The survey, which occurred over the week of September 23 to September 29, involved two separate observation periods at each of 124 sites. Each
observation period was two hours long and took place during daylight hours
(between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.). A total of 35,402 vehicles and 48,115
occupants were observed during the course of the study.
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Highlights
Seat Belt Usage by All Front Seat Occupants by Province/Territory
- Chart 1 shows that an estimated 85.0% (± 1.2%) of front seat occupants of
light-duty vehicles use seat belts. Jurisdictions at or above the national
average were Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and
Ontario. Those below the national average were Alberta, British Columbia,
Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and each of the territories.
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Seat Belt Usage by All Front Seat Occupants by Light-Duty Vehicle Type
- Chart 2 shows much lower rates of seat belt usage among front seat occupants
of light trucks (77.5%) than of passenger cars (88.2%) and passenger vans (also
88.2%). For drivers specifically, the rates were 88.5% for passenger cars, 88.3%
for passenger vans and 77.5% for light trucks.
- Other data from the survey show that with only a few exceptions, the seat
belt usage rates for each of the three types of vehicles were at or above the
national average in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario
and Saskatchewan.
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Seat Belt Usage by Gender of Driver
- Chart 3 shows a higher percentage of female drivers wearing seat belts
(89.6%) than male drivers (83.1%).
- The higher rate of seat belt usage by females was consistent across all
three vehicle types. The difference ranged from 4.3 percentage points for
passenger cars (90.8% for females vs. 86.5% for males) to 9.0 points for light
trucks (86.3% for females vs. 77.3% for males).
- Other data from the survey show that the higher rate of seat belt usage by
females is generally consistent across all provinces and territories. The
differences range from 5.0 percentage points in Nova Scotia (93.6% for females
vs. 88.6% for males) to 15.6 points in the Yukon (64.3% for females vs. 48.7%
for males).
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Seat Belt Usage by Age Group of Driver
- Chart 4 shows that the proportion of drivers wearing seat belts increases
with age group, from 81.5% of those under 25, to 84.1% of those 25 to 49 and
88.9% of those 50 and older.
- Other data from the survey show that the increased rate of seat belt usage
with age is generally consistent across the three vehicle types:
- For drivers of passenger cars, those 50 and older had a usage rate of 90.3%
(vs. 87.5% for those under 25 and 88.0% for those 25 to 49).
- For drivers of passenger vans, those 50 and older had a usage rate of 91.7%
(vs. 89.9% for those under 25 and 87.1% for those 25 to 49).
- For drivers of light trucks, those 50 and older had a usage rate of 85.3%
(vs. 69.6% for those under 25 and 77.6% for those 25 to 49).
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Conclusion
Road Safety Vision 2010 is targeting a decrease of 30% in the average annual
number of road users killed or seriously injured during the 2008-2010 period
compared with 1996 2001. Sub-targets include reducing casualties resulting from
non-use of restraint systems and decreasing casualties resulting from crashes
occurring on rural roadways.
The rural seat belt wearing survey summarized here represents one of a number
of important Vision 2010 initiatives undertaken by the National Occupant
Restraint Program (NORP 2010) Task Force. The results of this survey will help
build a business case for the adoption of measures to meet the NORP 2010 goal of
increasing seat belt usage rates in rural Canada from 85% to 95% by 2010.
In the fall of 2003, Transport Canada will conduct a survey of urban
communities and their rural fringes that will complement the rural survey.
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Contact
To find out more about national road safety programs and initiatives, call
Transport Canada toll free at 1-800-333-0371 or (613) 998-8616 if you are
calling from the Ottawa area, or e-mail comments or questions to
roadsafetywebmail@tc.gc.ca.
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