Road Safety in Canada – Improve Your Safety [PDF, 1.82 MB]
With millions of people on Canadian roads every day, road safety is a big priority for us at Transport Canada. We put cars, trucks, child car seats and other products to the test (including extensive crash testing) at our Motor Vehicle Test Centre in Blainville, Quebec, to make sure they meet safety standards. We're quick to investigate and work with manufacturers on recalls when defects are found. And we change regulations to keep travellers safe — for example, by making seat belts mandatory on newly built medium and large highway buses as of September 2020.
Dangers of hot vehicles and children
Too many children have died in Canada from heatstroke because they were left unattended in a hot vehicle - this is known as paediatric vehicular heatstroke. These deaths are preventable. We can all play a role to ensure another child doesn't die because they were left alone in a hot vehicle.
Child car seat safety
Choosing and installing a child car seat or booster seat, recall notices, safety and testing information.
Automated and connected vehicles
An automated vehicle uses a combination of sensors, controllers and onboard computers, along with sophisticated software, allowing the vehicle to control at least some driving functions, instead of a human driver. Automated and connected vehicles could radically change our transportation system. Connected vehicles use different types of wireless communications technologies to communicate with their surroundings.
Defects and recalls of vehicles, tires and child car seats
Look up recalls, report a potential safety defect, find results of defect investigations, get recall updates and alerts.
School bus safety
School buses are the safest form of transportation in Canada. Taking a school bus is safer than any other way for students to travel to school, including riding a bicycle, being driven in a passenger vehicle or walking.
Winter driving
There are many ways to prepare for winter weather so you can keep yourself and your loved ones safe on the road.
Zero-emission vehicles
Transportation is the second largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada. This accounts for a quarter of Canada's total GHG emissions and almost half of those emissions come from cars and light trucks. One way that we can reduce the amount of transportation-related GHG emissions is to get more zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on the road.
Driver assistance technologies
In recent years, there have been many advances in vehicle technologies. Some of these technologies can help you avoid or reduce the severity of a crash. Others provide better protection for occupants in the event of a crash.
Importing a vehicle
Vehicle imports (including kit cars, U.S. vehicles, non-regulated vehicles), temporary vehicle imports.
Statistics and data on road safety
Statistics and data on air bags, bus safety, traffic collisions, driver distraction, seat belts.