Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2017

From: Transport Canada

Collected in cooperation with the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators

Introduction

Transport Canada's National Collision Database (NCDB) contains data on all reportable motor vehicle collisions in Canada that the provinces and territories provide each year.

The federal, provincial, and territorial governments in Canada work to improve road safety to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries and to have the safest roads in the world. The year 2017 saw a decrease in the number of fatalities, serious injuries, and total injuries; in fact, 2017 marked the lowest counts for all three of these casualty groups since these data were first collected by Transport Canada in the early 1970's.

  • In 2017, the number of motor vehicle fatalities was 1,841; down 2.8% from 2016 (1,895).
  • The number of serious injuries decreased to 9,960 in 2017; down 7.4% from 2016 (10,760).
  • The number of fatalities per 100,000 population was 5.0 in 2017; the lowest on record.
  • The number of fatalities per billion vehicle kilometres travelled was 4.8 in 2017; also the lowest on record.

Collisions and Casualties 1998-2017

Year Collisions Victims
FatalFootnote 1 Personal InjuryFootnote 2 FatalitiesFootnote 3 Serious InjuriesFootnote 4 InjuriesFootnote 5 (Total)
1998 2,583 145,615 2,919 16,410 213,319
1999 2,632 148,683 2,980 16,187 218,457
2000 2,548 153,290 2,904 15,581 222,848
2001 2,415 149,023 2,758 15,296 216,542
2002 2,583 153,832 2,921 15,894 222,665
2003 2,487 150,493 2,777 15,110 216,123
2004 2,438 145,150 2,735 15,572 206,104
2005 2,551 145,559 2,898 15,792 204,701
2006 2,586 142,517 2,871 16,044 199,976
2007 2,455 138,615 2,753 14,410 192,745
2008 2,193 127,571 2,431 12,851 176,394
2009 2,007 123,449 2,216 11,955 170,770
2010 2,021 123,615 2,238 11,796 172,081
2011 1,849 122,350 2,023 10,940 167,741
2012 1,848 122,835 2,075 11,104 166,728
2013 1,772 120,371 1,954Footnote r 10,661 164,525
2014 1,678 114,600 1,848 10,422 156,366
2015 1,701Footnote r 117,844Footnote r 1,882Footnote r 10,856Footnote r 161,056Footnote r
2016 1,731Footnote r 116,473Footnote r 1,895Footnote r 10,760Footnote r 163,245Footnote r
2017 1,679 112,479 1,841 9,960 154,886

Fatalities and Injuries by Age Group - 2017

Age Group (yrs) Fatalities Serious Injuries Injuries (Total)
0 - 4 32 131 2,744
5 - 14 43 303 6,514
15 - 19 115 851 13,600
20 - 24 184 1,213 17,614
25 - 34 299 1,841 29,203
35 - 44 266 1,334 23,353
45 - 54 235 1,412 22,642
55 - 64 293 1,354 18,704
65 + 364 1,405 16,766
Not stated 10 116 3,746
Total 1,841 9,960 154,886

Fatalities by Road User Class 2013-2017

Road User Class 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
# Drivers 964 920 921Footnote r 916Footnote r 985
% Drivers 49.3Footnote r 49.8 48.9Footnote r 48.3Footnote r 53.5
# Passengers 369 352 364Footnote r 334Footnote r 311
% Passengers 18.9 19.0 19.3Footnote r 17.6Footnote r 16.9
# Pedestrians 306 301 298Footnote r 346Footnote r 284
% Pedestrians 15.7 16.3 15.8Footnote r 18.3Footnote r 15.4
# Bicyclists 69 42 49Footnote r 46Footnote r 36
% Bicyclists 3.5 2.3 2.6Footnote r 2.4Footnote r 2.0
# MotorcyclistsFootnote * 198 190 208Footnote r 206Footnote r 191
% Motorcyclists 10.1 10.3 11.1Footnote r 10.9 10.4
# Not stated/Other 48Footnote r 43 42Footnote r 47Footnote r 34
% Not stated/Other 2.5Footnote r 2.3 2.2Footnote r 2.5Footnote r 1.8
# Total 1,954Footnote r 1,848 1,882Footnote r 1,895Footnote r 1,841
% Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Fatalities 1998-2017

Year Fatalities
1998 2,919
1999 2,980
2000 2,904
2001 2,758
2002 2,921
2003 2,777
2004 2,735
2005 2,898
2006 2,871
2007 2,753
2008 2,431
2009 2,216
2010 2,238
2011 2,023
2012 2,075
2013 1,954Footnote r
2014 1,848
2015 1,882Footnote r
2016 1,895Footnote r
2017 1,841
Fatality Rate (per 10,000 motor vehicles registered)
Year Fatality Rate
1998 1.62
1999 1.70
2000 1.62
2001 1.52
2002 1.57
2003 1.47
2004 1.43
2005 1.50
2006 1.43
2007 1.34
2008 1.15
2009 1.04
2010 1.02
2011 0.91
2012 0.93
2013 0.85
2014 0.79
2015 0.79Footnote r
2016 0.78
2017 0.75
 

Casualty Rates - 2017

  Per 100,000
PopulationFootnote 1		 Per Billion
Vehicle-KilometresFootnote 2		 Per 100,000
Licensed Drivers
Fatalities Injuries Fatalities Injuries Fatalities Injuries
Canada 5.0 421.9 4.8 404.9 7.1 595.6
NL 6.1 516.8 6.0 513.0 5.4 463.7
PE 9.2 406.5 9.1 403.7 12.7 561.0
NS 4.9 505.8 4.0 414.5 6.5 667.5
NB 6.6 353.3 5.7 307.6 9.0 484.3
QC 4.3 438.8 4.6 475.5 6.4 659.1
ON 4.1 362.2 4.0 357.1 5.8 513.9
MB 5.5 940.6 4.9 844.4 8.1 1,390.2
SK 8.6 390.7 6.8 311.1 12.5 566.8
AB 7.1 401.0 4.8 273.1 9.5 539.4
BC 5.7 437.4 6.9 523.5 7.9 605.3
YT 18.2 694.2 10.3 392.1 24.0 913.9
NT 6.7 224.6 7.2 241.0 11.5 382.3
NU 0.0 60.5 0.0 575.0 0.0 411.6
 

Notes: Vehicle kilometres travelled data were not available for 2017 so they were estimated using average yearly change for the years 2014-2016

Data for Ontario and Alberta are preliminary for 2017. Data for New Brunswick and Injury data for Nova Scotia were estimated. Data for Newfoundland are accurate as of May 2018.

Recent changes in how traffic accident reports are collected in Manitoba resulted in an increased number of injuries of a minimal nature being captured in 2017.

Rate-based data in smaller jurisdictions have a high level of fluctuation due to their small sample size.

Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Age Group 2017

  Fatalities Serious Injuries
Age Group (yrs) Drivers Passengers Drivers Passengers
0 - 4 0.0 6.1 0.2 4.3
5 - 14 0.0 9.6 0.0 7.1
15 - 19 6.6 9.6 7.1 13.5
20 - 24 10.3 13.1 12.4 15.2
25 - 34 18.9 12.8 21.0 15.6
35 - 44 15.7 13.5 15.4 9.5
45 - 54 13.2 9.3 15.3 8.5
55 - 64 17.2 7.7 14.2 9.1
65 + 18.0 17.0 14.2 13.2
Not Stated 0.1 1.3 0.2 4.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Number of Licensed Drivers by Gender and by Age 2017

Age Group (yrs) Males Females Total
< 16 26,489 23,153 49,642
16 - 19 588,792 544,804 1,133,596
20 - 24 1,014,217 936,415 1,950,632
25 - 34 2,279,447 2,190,249 4,469,696
35 - 44 2,254,865 2,208,617 4,463,481
45 - 54 2,393,092 2,287,732 4,680,824
55 - 64 2,339,975 2,224,636 4,564,611
65 + 2,471,717 2,220,191 4,691,908
Not Stated 0 0 0
Total 13,368,593 12,635,797 26,004,390

Licensed Drivers and Motor Vehicle Registrations by Type of Vehicle 1998-2017 (in thousands)

  Licensed DriversFootnote 1 Light-Duty VehiclesFootnote 2 Commercial VehiclesFootnote 3 MotorcyclesFootnote 4
1998 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
2009 23,198 19,877 915 595
2010 23,541 20,268 964 616
2011 23,831 20,608 1,008 631
2012 24,147 20,652 1,053 661
2013 24,630 21,262 1,072 672
2014 24,914 21,730 1,121 688
2015 25,273 22,068 1,147 709
2016 25,580 22,410 1,144 716
2017 26,004 22,678 1,168 721
 

Source: 1998: Statistics Canada, Catalogue No. 53-219, "Road Motor Vehicles - Registrations".
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.

Note: A reduced level of police reporting in British Columbia since 2008 has affected the British Columbia totals and, to a lesser extent, national totals reported in this publication.

 

Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries Where Victims Were Not Using Seat Belts 2013-2017

Drivers
  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Fatalities 32.0 26.2 28.7 29.6 27.4
Serious Injuries 11.7 11.8 10.4 9.8 10.6
Passengers
  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Fatalities 30.7 33.2 27.6 25.6 31.1
Serious Injuries 18.5 17.7 17.4 15.4 16.9

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

Percentage of Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Road User Class - 2017

Road User Class Fatalities Serious Injuries
Drivers 53.5 48.9
Passengers 16.9 17.6
Pedestrians 15.4 14.3
Bicyclists 2.0 4.6
MotorcyclistsFootnote * 10.4 12.4
Not Stated/Other 1.8 2.2
Total 100.0 100.0

Number of Collisions By Location 2017

Location Fatal Personal Injury
UrbanFootnote 1 746 81,938
RuralFootnote 2 908 28,013
Not stated 25 2,528
Total 1,679 112,479

 

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".

 

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Transport, 2019

Cette publication est aussi disponible en français sous le titre Statistiques sur les collisions de la route au Canada 2017

Catalogue No. T45-3E-PDF
ISBN 1701-6223

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Or contact TCcopyright-droitdauteurTC@tc.gc.ca.

To find out more about national road safety programs or initiatives, call Transport Canada toll free at 1-800-333-0371 or e-mail us at mvs-sa@tc.gc.ca. You can also visit our web site at https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation or the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators' web site at www.ccmta.ca.

More detailed motor vehicle collision data can be queried using the National Collision Database (NCDB) On-Line tool located at https://wwwapps2.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/7/NCDB-BNDC/p.aspx?l=en.

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