The issue of animal-vehicle collisions continues to be a well-documented problem and several researchers are working hard to address the problem. The literature review confirmed that although much progress has been made in the identification of more universal mitigation measures, local conditions often demand custom-designed solutions.
The update of the 2003 report confirms that at the national level there is still underreporting of the number of animal-collisions. In some provinces, notably Newfoundland & Labrador, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, there are mechanisms or organizations in place to capture data on the majority of these collisions. For those provinces, the data show a discrepancy between provincial databases and the national statistics. Although the underreporting issue seems to be most noticeable for collisions with property damage only (PDO), it also exists for the other categories as well.
The following tables provide a comparison and the discrepancies between provincial data and Transport Canada data. The two sets of data illustrate the underreporting issue:
Exhibit 7.1 Comparison of Transport Canada Data and Provincial Data Collisions with Fatality
| Provinces/Territories | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | |||
| TC | Provincial | TC | Provincial | TC | Provincial | |
| Alberta | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| British Columbia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Manitoba | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Brunswick | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Newfoundland | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Nova Scotia | 0 | 11 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 01 |
| N.W.T. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ontario | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| P.E.I. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Quebec | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Saskatchewan | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Yukon | 0 | N/A 2 | 0 | N/A 2 | 0 | N/A 2 |
| Total Canada | 12 | 17 | 32 | 30 | 17 | 24 |
¹Provincial data received from Nova Scotia only includes collisions involving deer
² N/A : not available – no response was received from the jurisdiction
Exhibit 7.2 Comparison of Transport Canada Data and Provincial Data Collisions with Injury
| Provinces/Territories | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | |||
| TC | Provincial | TC | Provincial | TC | Provincial | |
| Alberta | 166 | 346 | 185 | 324 | 12 | 299 |
| British Columbia | 276 | 276 | 316 | 330 | 345 | 280 |
| Manitoba | 199 | 238 | 159 | 251 | 214 | 277 |
| New Brunswick | 104 | 104 | 85 | 85 | 106 | 106 |
| Newfoundland | 56 | 64 | 70 | 80 | 62 | 87 |
| Nova Scotia | 82 | 741 | 69 | 551 | 47 | 331 |
| N.W.T. | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Ontario | 482 | 569 | 610 | 610 | 596 | 596 |
| P.E.I. | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 |
| Quebec | 383 | 383 | 363 | 363 | 435 | 435 |
| Saskatchewan | 123 | 189 | 140 | 209 | 164 | 229 |
| Yukon | 7 | N/A 2 | 6 | N/A 2 | 6 | N/A 2 |
| Total Canada | 1,975 | 2,253 | 2,009 | 3,313 | 2,003 | 2,353 |
¹Provincial data received from Nova Scotia only includes collisions involving deer
² N/A : not available – no response was received from the jurisdiction
Exhibit 7.3 Comparison of Transport Canada Data and Provincial Data Collisions with Property Damage Only
| Provinces/Territories | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | |||
| TC | Provincial | TC | Provincial | TC | Provincial | |
| Alberta | 4,098 | 11,061 | 5,487 | 11,120 | 353 | 11,318 |
| British Columbia | 1,465 | 1,465 | 1,741 | 9,300 | 1,998 | 9,100 |
| Manitoba | 3,213 | 9,141 | 3,218 | 9,011 | 3,971 | 10,527 |
| New Brunswick | 893 | 893 | 806 | 806 | 786 | 786 |
| Newfoundland | 315 | 718 | 364 | 805 | 312 | 706 |
| Nova Scotia | 688 | 6381 | 573 | 5141 | 432 | 3641 |
| N.W.T. | 12 | 12 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 16 |
| Ontario | 11,248 | 10,565 | 12,894 | 12,894 | 14,018 | 14,018 |
| P.E.I. | 16 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Quebec | 5,456 | 5,456 | 5,780 | 5,780 | 6,256 | 6,256 |
| Saskatchewan | 3,604 | 11,775 | 5,780 | 11,514 | 9,564 | 13,966 |
| Yukon | 41 | N/A 2 | 37 | N/A 2 | 34 | N/A 2 |
| Total Canada | 31,049 | 51,740 | 37,008 | 61,777 | 37,754 | 67,077 |
¹ Provincial data received from Nova Scotia only includes collisions involving deer
² N/A : not available – no response was received from the jurisdiction
There does not seem to be any easy solution to correct the underreporting problem. It is possible that there may be an issue here with the data dictionary being used by Transport Canada so that some events may not be entered in the national data fields by the provinces/territories. Alberta would be a perfect case study to explore that angle.
It needs to be pointed out that even though some provinces capture all events involving large animals and motor vehicles, not all provinces and territories can do it. They simply do not have the mechanism for doing so. Although one of the compromises would be for Transport Canada to show the full data where it is available, this could raise other uniformity issues in the national database.
The review of the mitigation measures by province/territory shows that almost all provinces and territories are involved in mitigation measures of some sort. Special highway signs remain the most-favored mitigation measure.