Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2018

Collected in cooperation with the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators

Cette publication est aussi disponible en français sous le titre Statistiques sur les collisions de la route au Canada 2018

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

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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 2018 saw an increase in the number of fatalities and injuries, however serious injuries went down. 2018 marked the sixth consecutive year with a fatality count below 2,000 and remains among 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 2018, the number of motor vehicle fatalities was 1,922; up 3.6% from 2017 (1,856).
The number of serious injuries decreased to 9,494 in 2018; down 6.1% from 2017 (10,107).
The number of fatalities per 100,000 population increased slightly to 5.2 in 2018 (from 5.0 in 2017), yet is still the second lowest on record.
The number of fatalities per billion vehicle kilometres travelled slightly increased to 4.9 in 2018 (from 4.8 in 2017); also the second lowest recorded

Collisions and Casualties - 1999-2018
Year	Collisions		Victims
Year	Fatal^{Footnote 1}	Personal Injury^{Footnote 2}	Fatalities^{Footnote 3}	Serious Injuries^{Footnote 4}	Injuries^{Footnote 5} (Total)
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	122,834^{Footnote r}	2,075	11,104	166,727^{Footnote r}
2013	1,772	120,371	1,951^{Footnote r}	10,662^{Footnote r}	164,525
2014	1,675^{Footnote r}	114,618^{Footnote r}	1,841^{Footnote r}	10,445^{Footnote r}	156,558^{Footnote r}
2015	1,695^{Footnote r}	117,846^{Footnote r}	1,889^{Footnote r}	10,855^{Footnote r}	161,061^{Footnote r}
2016	1,737^{Footnote r}	116,534^{Footnote r}	1,899^{Footnote r}	10,564^{Footnote r}	158,791^{Footnote r}
2017	1,694^{Footnote r}	112,714^{Footnote r}	1,856^{Footnote r}	10,107^{Footnote r}	152,772^{Footnote r}
2018	1,743	108,371	1,922	9,494	152,847

Footnotes

Footnote 1

"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 before 2007 (eight days).

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

"Personal injury collisions" include all reported motor vehicle crashes which resulted in at least one injury but not death within 30 days of the collision, except in Quebec before 2007 (eight days).

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Footnote 3

"Fatalities" include all those who died as a result of a reported traffic collision within 30 days of its occurrence, except in Quebec before 2007 (eight days).

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Footnote 4

"Serious Injuries" include persons admitted to hospital for treatment or observation. Serious injuries were estimated from 1999 to 2018 because several jurisdictions under-reported these numbers.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5

"Total Injuries" include all reported severities of injuries ranging from minimal to serious.

Return to footnote 5 referrer

Footnote r

Revised.

Return to first footnote r referrer

Fatalities and Injuries by Age Group - 2018
Age Group (yrs)	Fatalities	Serious Injuries	Injuries (Total)
0 - 4	19	141	2,975
5 - 14	36	277	5,952
15 - 19	124	752	12,700
20 - 24	204	1,022	17,064
25 - 34	303	1,667	28,819
35 - 44	250	1,273	23,269
45 - 54	255	1,303	22,159
55 - 64	287	1,184	18,808
65 +	430	1,306	17,378
Not stated	14	101	3,723
Total	1,922	9,026	152,847

Fatalities by Road User Class 2014-2018
Road User Class	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
# Drivers	907^{Footnote r}	908^{Footnote r}	875^{Footnote r}	957^{Footnote r}	960
% Drivers	49.3^{Footnote r}	48.1^{Footnote r}	46.1^{Footnote r}	51.6^{Footnote r}	49.9
# Passengers	342^{Footnote r}	356^{Footnote r}	338^{Footnote r}	317^{Footnote r}	340
% Passengers	18.6^{Footnote r}	18.8^{Footnote r}	17.8^{Footnote r}	17.1^{Footnote r}	17.7
# Pedestrians	304^{Footnote r}	299^{Footnote r}	355^{Footnote r}	302^{Footnote r}	332
% Pedestrians	16.5^{Footnote r}	15.8	18.7^{Footnote r}	16.3^{Footnote r}	17.3
# Bicyclists	42	49	49^{Footnote r}	40^{Footnote r}	44
% Bicyclists	2.3	2.6	2.6^{Footnote r}	2.2^{Footnote r}	2.3
*# Motorcyclists^{Footnote }**	191^{Footnote r}	211^{Footnote r}	214^{Footnote r}	197^{Footnote r}	200
% Motorcyclists	10.4^{Footnote r}	11.2^{Footnote r}	11.3^{Footnote r}	10.6^{Footnote r}	10.4
# Not stated/Other	55^{Footnote r}	66^{Footnote r}	68^{Footnote r}	43^{Footnote r}	46
% Not stated/Other	3.0^{Footnote r}	3.5^{Footnote r}	3.6^{Footnote r}	2.3^{Footnote r}	2.4
# Total	1,841^{Footnote r}	1,889^{Footnote r}	1,899^{Footnote r}	1,856^{Footnote r}	1,922
% Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Fatalities 1999-2018
Year	Fatalities
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	1,951^{Footnote r}
2014	1,841^{Footnote r}
2015	1,889^{Footnote r}
2016	1,899^{Footnote r}
2017	1,856^{Footnote r}
2018	1,922

Fatality Rate (per 10,000 motor vehicles registered)
Year	Fatality Rate
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	0.78^{Footnote r}
2015	0.79
2016	0.78
2017	0.76^{Footnote r}
2018	0.77

Casualty Rates - 2018
	Fatalities	Injuries	Fatalities	Injuries	Fatalities	Injuries
	Per 100,000 Population^{Footnote 1}		Per Billion Vehicle-Kilometres^{Footnote 2}		Per 100,000 Licensed Drivers
Canada	5.2	412.4	4.9	391.1	7.2	575.0
NL	7.4	517.0	7.2	498.9	6.6	460.8
PE	9.8	424.2	9.6	415.6	13.2	573.8
NS	7.8	747.8	6.3	603.5	10.2	978.9
NB	6.5	348.3	5.6	301.1	9.0	484.3
QC	4.3	418.9	4.5	444.1	6.4	622.1
ON	4.2	356.9	4.1	347.4	5.8	491.3
MB	5.2	891.7	4.6	791.6	7.6	1,310.0
SK	11.0	361.9	8.6	284.0	15.8	517.5
AB	6.8	396.9	4.5	265.8	9.0	530.0
BC	5.6	393.4	6.9	477.5	8.0	555.7
YT	15.7	444.5	10.1	284.5	24.1	681.1
NT	4.5	224.5	4.7	235.8	7.6	382.5
NU	5.2	65.1	48.8	609.8	74.2	928.0

Notes: Vehicle kilometres travelled data were not available for 2018 so they were estimated using average yearly change for the years 2015-2017

Data for Ontario and Alberta are preliminary for 2018. Data for New Brunswick were estimated.

Changes in how traffic collision reports are collected in Manitoba resulted in an increased number of injuries of a minimal nature being captured in 2018.

Newfoundland and Labrador data reflects information contained in the Vehicle Collision Reports received and processed as of June 1, 2019.

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

Percentage of Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Road User Class - 2018
Road User Class	Fatalities	Serious Injuries
Drivers	49.9	46.9
Passengers	17.7	19.0
Pedestrians	17.3	15.5
Bicyclists	2.3	4.0
Motorcyclists^{Footnote *}	10.4	12.1
Not Stated/Other	2.4	2.5
Total	100.0	100.0

Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries Where Victims Were Not Using Seat Belts 2014-2018

Drivers
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Fatalities	26.2	28.7	29.6	27.4	29.4
Serious Injuries	11.8	10.4	9.8	10.6	10.8

Passengers
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Fatalities	33.2	27.6	25.6	31.1	32.1
Serious Injuries	17.7	17.4	15.4	16.9	18.4

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

Number of Collisions By Location - 2018
Location	Fatal	Personal Injury
Urban^{Footnote 1}	767	79,349
Rural^{Footnote 2}	952	26,458
Not stated	24	2,564
Total	1,743	108,371

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 Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Age Group - 2018
Age Group (yrs)	Drivers	Passengers	Drivers	Passengers
	Fatalities		Serious Injuries
0 - 4	0.0	3.5	0.1	4.3
5 - 14	0.0	6.7	0.1	7.8
15 - 19	5.3	11.1	6.9	14.0
20 - 24	11.2	13.5	10.9	13.6
25 - 34	17.8	17.8	20.5	16.8
35 - 44	14.8	8.5	16.9	9.3
45 - 54	14.8	9.1	16.4	9.2
55 - 64	15.5	10.5	13.9	9.4
65 +	20.6	17.8	14.2	12.5
Not Stated	0.0	1.5	0.1	3.1
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Number of Licensed Drivers by Gender and by Age - 2018
Age Group (yrs)	Males	Females	Total
< 16	27,978	24,400	52,378
16 - 19	595,997	550,424	1,146,421
20 - 24	1,038,827	939,866	1,978,693
25 - 34	2,355,211	2,244,570	4,599,781
35 - 44	2,310,446	2,260,037	4,570,483
45 - 54	2,337,348	2,242,405	4,579,752
55 - 64	2,408,462	2,290,010	4,698,472
65 +	2,596,983	2,359,949	4,956,932
Not Stated	81	81	162
Total	13,671,332	12,911,741	26,583,073

Licensed Drivers and Motor Vehicle Registrations by Type of Vehicle 1999-2018 (in thousands)
	Licensed Drivers^{Footnote 1}	Light-Duty Vehicles^{Footnote 2}	Commercial Vehicles^{Footnote 3}	Motorcycles^{Footnote 4}
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
2018	26,583	23,137	1,194	730

Source: 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.

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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Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2018

Introduction

Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries Where Victims Were Not Using Seat Belts 2014-2018