Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2008

Transport Canada
Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Regulation
Collected in co-operation with the
Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators

TP 3322
Cat. T45-3/2008
ISBN 978-1-100-52046-9
2010

Collisions and Casualties 1989–2008
Fatalities and Injuries by Age Group 2008
Fatalities by Road User Class 2004–2008
Fatalities 1989-2008
Casualty Rates 2008
Percentage of drivers tested who died and tests confirmed they had been drinking 1990–2008 (BAC >0 mg%)
Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries Where Victims Were Not Using Seat Belts 2004–2008
Number of Collisions by Location 2008
Percentage of Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Road User Class 2008
Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Age Group 2008
Number of Licensed Drivers by Gender and by Age 2008
Licensed Drivers and Motor Vehicle Registrations by Type of Vehicle (in thousands) 1989–2008

**Collisions and Casualties¹ 1989–2008**
Year	Collisions		Victims
Year	Fatal²	Personal Injury³	Fatalities⁴	Serious Injuries⁵	Injuries⁶ (Total)
1989	3,651	192,595	4,238	27,422	285,178
1990	3,445	178,515	3,963	25,183	262,680
1991	3,228	170,693	3,690	26,035	249,217
1992	3,073	169,640	3,501	25,521	249,823
1993	3,121	168,106	3,615	23,902	247,593
1994	2,837	164,642	3,230	22,830	241,899
1995	2,817	161,950	3,313	21,494	238,458
1996	2,740^r	153,944^r	3,129^r	18,734^r	227,283^r
1997	2,660^r	147,549^r	3,076^r	17,294^r	217,401^r
1998	2,583^r	145,615^r	2,919^r	16,197^r	213,319^r
1999	2,632^r	148,683^r	2,980^r	16,187^r	218,457^r
2000	2,547^r	153,300^r	2,903^r	15,583^r	222,869^r
2001*	2,413^r	148,996^r	2,756^r	15,285^r	216,489^r
2002	2,583^r	153,859^r	2,921^r	15,907^r	222,707^r
2003	2,489^r	150,545^r	2,779^r	15,125^r	216,210^r
2004	2,436^r	145,248^r	2,731^r	15,591^r	206,229^r
2005	2,551^r	145,603^r	2,898^r	15,814^r	204,764^r
2006	2,599^r	142,531^r	2,884^r	15,885^r	199,994^r
2007	2,462^r	138,632^r	2,761^r	14,236^r	192,762^r
2008	2,187	126,945	2,419	12,360	178,833

Cracked windshield 1. "Collisions and casualties" were revised from 1996 to 2007 based on submissions from one jurisdiction. In this report, "casualties" combine death and injury from vehicle crashes.

2. "Fatal collisions" include all reported motor vehicle crashes that resulted in at least one death, where death occurred within 30 days of the collision, except in Quebec (eight days).

3. "Personal injury collisions" include all reported motor vehicle crashes that resulted in at least one injury, but not death, within 30 days of the collision, except in Quebec (eight days).

4. "Fatalities" include all those who died as a result of a reported traffic collision within 30 days of its occurrence, except in Quebec (eight days).

5. "Serious injuries" include persons admitted to hospital for treatment or observation. Serious injuries were estimated from 1989 to 2008 because several jurisdictions under-reported these numbers.

6. "Total injuries" include all reported severity of injuries ranging from minimal to serious.

* Data for Nunavut are not reported for 2001, except for fatalities.

^r Revised.

**Fatalities and Injuries by Age Group 2008**
Age Group (Years)	Fatalities	Serious Injuries	Injuries (Total)
0–4	13	121	2,300
5–14	50	477	8,307
15–19	258	1,454	21,310
20–24	329	1,701	22,405
25–34	369	2,223	31,504
35–44	308	1,871	28,049
45–54	366	1,847	27,139
55–64	292	1,183	16,512
65 +	409	1,176	14,174
Not stated	25	307	7,133
TOTAL	2,419	12,360	178,833

**Fatalities by Road User Class 2004–2008**
Road User Class		2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Drivers	#	1,392^r	1,498^r	1,513^r	1,409^r	1,315
	%	51.0	51.7	52.5	51.0	54.4
Passengers	#	648^r	682^r	612^r	614^r	494
	%	23.7	23.5	21.2	22.2	20.4
Pedestrians	#	364^r	342^r	376^r	376^r	299
	%	13.3	11.8	13.0	13.6	12.4
Bicyclists	#	58^r	52	73^r	65^r	42
	%	2.1	1.8	2.5	2.4	1.7
Motorcyclists*	#	198^r	233^r	212^r	225^r	218
	%	7.3	8.0	7.4	8.1	9.0
Not Stated/Other	#	71^r	91^r	98^r	72^r	51
	%	2.6	3.1	3.4	2.6	2.1
Total	#	2,731^r	2,898^r	2,884^r	2,761^r	2,419
	%	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

* Includes moped riders.

^r Revised.

Fatalities 1989-2008

**Casualty Rates 2008**
	Per 100,000 Population¹		Per Billion Vehicle-Kilometres²		Per 100,000 Licensed Drivers
	Fatalities	Injuries	Fatalities	Injuries	Fatalities	Injuries
CANADA	7.3	536.6	7.4	549.2	10.5	778.6
N.L.	8.3	402.2	8.0	385.9	11.8	571.1
P.E.I.	13.6	452.5	14.9	496.5	19.7	654.3
N.S.	8.8	754.1	8.6	743.6	11.7	1,011.6
N.B.	9.5	478.6	9.6	482.2	13.1	661.0
QUE.	7.2	561.9	8.1	632.1	11.2	875.9
ONT.	4.8	484.5	5.0	479.9	6.8	661.7
MAN.	7.6	651.8	8.1	689.1	12.0	1,027.6
SASK.	15.4	683.9	12.2	541.0	21.9	973.0
ALTA.	11.4	612.2	8.6	464.2	15.3	824.1
B.C.	8.1	502.5	9.9	613.1	11.6	719.1
Y.T.	24.1	723.5	15.4	461.4	32.4	970.7
N.W.T.	11.4	395.7	11.8	408.8	20.6	711.3
NUN.	12.6	129.7	132.5	1,357.6	n.a.	n.a.

1. Statistics Canada, Annual Demographic Estimates: Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2009, Catalogue No. 91-215-X.

2. Statistics Canada, Canadian Vehicle Survey, Catalogue No. 53-223-XIE.

Note: Data for Ontario are preliminary for 2008.

n.a. : Data are not available.

Percentage of drivers tested who died and tests confirmed they had been drinking 1990–2008 (BAC >0 mg%)*

* BAC: Blood Alcohol Concentration.
mg%: Weight of alcohol in the bloodstream stated as milligrams in 100 millilitres of blood.

¹ Before 2001, BAC categories were reported as 81-150 mg% and >150 mg%.

Note: 2008 data are preliminary.

Source: Traffic Injury Research Foundation.

**Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries Where Victims Were Not Using Seat Belts 2004–2008**
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Drivers
Fatalities	40.2	34.9	36.9	35.3	34.9
Serious Injuries	16.3	14.3	16.2	16.0	15.6
Passengers
Fatalities	39.6	35.4	38.7	39.1	38.3
Serious Injuries	23.4	19.9	24.6	24.8	21.6

Note: "Serious Injuries" include victims admitted to hospital for treatment or observation.

**Number of Collisions by Location 2008**
Location	Fatal	Personal Injury
Urban¹	701	87,179
Rural²	1,450	38,079
Not Stated	36	1,687
TOTAL	2,187	126,945

1. Urban includes:

metropolitan roads and streets, and other urban areas; or
a speed limit at the collision site of 60 km/h or less.

2. Rural includes:

primary or secondary highways, as well as local roads; or
a speed limit at the collision site above 60 km/h.

Note: In Alberta, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, "urban" includes any area within the corporate boundaries of a city, town, village or hamlet. "Rural" includes any area outside of what is defined as "urban".

**Percentage of Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Road User Class 2008**
Road User Class	Fatalities	Serious Injuries
Drivers	54.4	47.4
Passengers	20.4	23.5
Pedestrians	12.4	12.4
Bicyclists	1.7	3.8
Motorcyclists	9.0	10.3
Not Stated/Other	2.1	2.6
Total	100.0	100.0

Afternoon traffic on the highway.

**Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Age Group 2008**
Age Group (Years)	Fatalities		Serious Injuries
Age Group (Years)	Drivers	Passengers	Drivers	Passengers
0–4	0.0	1.8	0.3	2.3
5–14	0.2	5.6	0.4	7.5
15–19	8.7	20.6	9.7	18.5
20–24	14.8	14.6	14.1	16.0
25–34	16.4	14.6	20.5	15.6
35–44	13.8	8.4	17.6	11.1
45–54	16.4	9.8	17.0	9.1
55–64	12.6	8.8	10.8	6.5
65+	16.9	14.0	9.2	8.9
Not Stated	0.1	1.8	0.3	4.5
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

**Number of Licensed Drivers by Gender and by Age 2008**
Age Group (Years)	Male	Female	Total
<16	29,266	20,113	49,379
16–19	588,189	518,044	1,106,233
20–24	938,594	866,632	1,805,226
25–34	2,013,542	1,937,366	3,950,908
35–44	2,263,944	2,152,741	4,416,685
45–54	2,505,688	2,359,606	4,865,294
55–64	1,878,726	1,719,660	3,598,386
65+	1,732,610	1,445,124	3,177,734
Not Stated	0	0	2,558
Total	11,950,559	11,019,286	22,972,403

**Licensed Drivers and Motor Vehicle Registrations by Type of Vehicle (in thousands) 1989–2008**
	Licensed Drivers¹	Light-Duty Vehicles²	Commercial Vehicles³	Motorcycles⁴
1989	17,592	12,380	3,962	378
1990	17,718	12,622	4,000	359
1991	18,090	12,578	3,516	350
1992	18,465	12,781	3,461	339
1993	18,843	12,925	3,455	337
1994	19,243	13,131	3,510	330
1995	19,327	13,192	3,535	320
1996	19,964	13,251	3,620	312
1997	20,148	13,515	3,684	319
1998e	20,744	13,887	3,767	334
1999	20,934	16,538	722	274
2000	20,593	16,832	739	311
2001	20,879	17,055	729	318
2002	21,163	17,543	724	350
2003	21,436	17,755	740	373
2004	21,673	17,920	752	409
2005	21,937	18,124	786	443
2006	22,278	18,739	841	485
2007	22,606	19,199	872	522
2008	22,972	19,613	907	567

1. Excludes temporary permits prior to 1999.

2. Pre-1999, these registrations include passenger automobiles. From 1999, light-duty vehicles include passenger vehicles (automobiles, passenger vans), light trucks and vans (less than 4,500 kg).

3. Pre-1999, these registrations include trucks, buses and other commercial vehicles, such as vans. From 1999, these registrations include commercial vehicles (trucks and buses) greater than 4,500 kg.

4. Includes mopeds.

^e Estimated.

Source: 1989 to 1998: Statistics Canada Road Motor Vehicles, Catalogue No. 53-219. From 1999, the motor vehicle registration data are from Statistics Canada, CANSIM, Table 405-0004. From 1999 the licensed driver data were provided by each jurisdiction.

The decline in police reporting in British Columbia in years 1996 through 2004 has affected the British Columbia totals and, to a lesser extent, national totals reported in this publication.

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