Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2019

From: Transport Canada

Collected in cooperation with the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators

Copyright

© 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 2019

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

Permission to reproduce

To request permission to reproduce materials from this publication for commercial purposes, please complete the following web form: https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/application-crown-copyright-clearance

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

 

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 2019 saw a notable decrease in the number of fatalities, serious injuries, and total injuries, in fact, these were 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 2019, the number of motor vehicle fatalities was 1,762; down 9.1% from 2018 (1,939).
  • The number of serious injuries decreased to 8,917 in 2019; down 5.8% from 2018 (9,463).
  • The number of fatalities per 100,000 population decreased to 4.7 in 2019 (from 5.2 in 2018), and is the lowest on record.
  • The number of fatalities per billion vehicle kilometres travelled decreased to 4.4 in 2019 (from 4.9 in 2018); also the lowest recorded.
  • Amongst road users, motor vehicle passengers saw the largest decline in fatalities at 18%, with drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians seeing decreases of 9%, 7%, and 3%, respectively. Motor vehicle passengers also saw the largest decrease in serious injuries at 15%.
 
Collisions and Casualties - 2000 to 2019
  Collisions Victims
Year FatalFootnote 1 Personal InjuryFootnote 2 FatalitiesFootnote 3 Serious InjuriesFootnote 4 InjuriesFootnote 5 (Total)
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 2,075 11,104 166,727
2013 1,772 120,371 1,951 10,662 164,525
2014 1,675 114,617 1,841 10,445 156,557
2015 1,693 117,857 1,887 10,835 160,806
2016 1,738 116,583 1,900 10,573 158,854
2017 1,698 112,714 1,861 10,104 152,773
2018 1,754 109,580 1,939 9,463 149,065
2019 1,623 104,169 1,762 8,917 140,801
Fatalities and Injuries by Age Group - 2019
Age Group (yrs) Fatalities Serious Injuries Injuries (Total)
0 - 4  17 67 2,099
5 - 14  28 285 5,749
15 - 19  115 744 12,010
20 - 24  165 933 15,549
25 - 34  257 1,670 26,712
35 - 44  224 1,351 22,000
45 - 54  232 1,304 20,157
55 - 64  274 1,135 17,502
65 + 438 1,232 16,419
Not stated 12 196 2,604
Total 1,762 8,917 140,801
Fatalities by Road User Class - 2015 to 2019
Road User Class   2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Drivers # 908 875 957 954 867
% 48.1 46.1 51.4 49.2 49.2
 
Passengers # 356 338 317 360 295
% 18.9 17.8 17.0 18.6 16.7
 
Pedestrians # 299 355 302 323 314
% 15.8 18.7 16.2 16.7 17.8
 
Bicyclists # 49 49 40 41 38
% 2.6 2.6 2.1 2.1 2.2
 
MotorcyclistsFootnote * # 211 214 197 185 187
% 11.2 11.3 10.6 9.5 10.6
 
Not stated/Other # 64 69 48 76 61
% 3.4 3.6 2.6 3.9 3.5
 
Total # 1,887 1,900 1,861 1,939 1,762
% 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Fatalities 2000 to 2019
Year Fatalities
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
2014 1,841
2015 1,887
2016 1,900
2017 1,861
2018 1,939
2019 1,762
Fatality Rate (per 10,000 motor vehicles registered)
Year Fatality Rate
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
2015 0.79
2016 0.78
2017 0.76
2018 0.77
2019 0.69
Casualty Rates - 2019
  Per 100,000 PopulationFootnote 1 Per Billion
Vehicle-KilometresFootnote 2		 Per 100,000
Licensed Drivers
  Fatalities Injuries Fatalities Injuries Fatalities Injuries
Canada 4.7 374.5 4.4 345.1 6.6 526.4
NL 7.6 510.6 7.2 480.3 10.3 690.3
PE 9.5 384.7 9.4 378.4 13.3 536.9
NS 7.4 740.2 5.9 590.3 10.1 1,002.6
NB 6.4 345.5 5.5 294.5 9.0 484.3
QC 3.9 408.6 4.1 429.3 5.8 608.7
ON 3.9 318.2 3.8 307.7 5.4 435.8
MB 5.5 844.7 4.9 743.0 8.1 1,239.8
SK 6.1 351.8 4.6 270.1 8.9 514.3
AB 5.5 344.3 3.7 228.5 7.4 460.6
BC 5.3 315.2 6.4 381.7 7.5 446.1
YT 24.1 383.3 14.0 223.3 34.4 546.9
NT 13.3 171.0 13.9 177.8 22.5 288.5
NU 5.2 64.7 47.6 595.2 74.2 928.0

Notes:
Data for Ontario and Alberta are preliminary for 2019. 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 2019.
Newfoundland and Labrador data reflects information contained in the Vehicle Collision Reports received and processed as of June 1, 2020.
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 - 2019
Road User Class Fatalities Serious Injuries
Drivers 49.2 46.4
Passengers 16.8 18.6
Pedestrians 17.8 15.8
Bicyclists 2.2 4.1
MotorcyclistsFootnote * 10.6 12.2
Not Stated/Other 3.4 2.9
Total 100.0 100.0
Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries Where Victims Were Not Using Seat Belts - 2015 to 2019
  2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Drivers
Fatalities 28.7 29.6 27.4 29.4 25.6
Serious Injuries 10.4 9.8 10.6 10.8 10.3
Passengers
Fatalities 27.6 25.6 31.1 32.1 29.8
Serious Injuries 17.4 15.4 16.9 18.4 13.3

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

Number of Collisions By Location - 2019
Location Fatal Personal Injury
UrbanFootnote 1 750 75,714
RuralFootnote 2 824 25,646
Not stated 49 2,809
Total 1,623 104,169

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 - 2019
  Fatalities Serious Injuries
Age Group (yrs) Drivers Passengers Drivers Passengers
0 - 4  0.0 2.7 0.0 2.5
5 - 14 0.0 5.4 0.0 7.6
15 - 19  6.3 14.2 7.4 15.0
20 - 24 10.5 13.2 10.5 12.4
25 - 34 15.5 12.9 21.1 17.4
35 - 44 13.5 10.8 17.5 11.3
45 - 54 12.9 7.5 15.6 8.7
55 - 64 15.5 9.8 13.3 8.1
65 + 25.6 22.0 14.4 11.4
Not Stated 0.2 1.5 0.2 5.6
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Number of Licensed Drivers by Gender and by Age - 2019
Age Group (yrs) Males Females Other GenderFootnote * Total
< 16 27,977 24,275 3 52,255
16 - 19 596,026 550,302 20 1,146,347
20 - 24 1,044,966 934,886 77 1,979,929
25 - 34 2,387,491 2,262,445 148 4,650,085
35 - 44 2,335,932 2,280,936 51 4,616,919
45 - 54 2,280,421 2,193,865 17 4,474,303
55 - 64 2,420,721 2,307,089 12 4,727,822
65 + 2,649,247 2,445,438 3 5,094,688
Not Stated 2,407 1,597 0 4,004
Total 13,745,187 13,000,832 331 26,746,350
Licensed Drivers and Motor Vehicle Registrations by Type of Vehicle 2000-2019 (in thousands)
Year Licensed Drivers Light-Duty Vehicles Commercial Vehicles Motorcycles
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
2019 26,746 23,472 1,214 736

Source: the motor vehicle registration data are from Statistics Canada, CANSIM, Table 405-0004. 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.

Fatalities In Commercial Vehicle Collisions by User Type - 2015 to 2019
Road User Class 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Straight Truck (> 4,536 kg) Occupants 17 16 20 20 16
Tractor-Trailer Occupants 25 36 43 32 36
School Bus Occupants 1 2 1 2 0
Urban Transit Bus (City/Local) Occupants 1 0 0 1 0
Inter-City Bus (Motorcoach) Occupants 1 2 4 17 0
Pedestrians 40 50 48 43 59
Bicyclists 7 13 11 8 10
MotorcyclistsFootnote ** 18 13 13 11 16
Passenger Vehicles / Other 281 241 262 221 221
Total Fatalities in CMVFootnote * Collisions 391 373 402 355 358
Fatalities In All Other Collisions 1,496 1,527 1,459 1,584 1,404
Total Fatalities in All Collisions 1,887 1,900 1,861 1,939 1,762

Note: These data were estimated using submissions from a subset of Canada's provinces and territories.

Contributing Factors in Fatal Collisions - 2015 to 2019
Contributing FactorFootnote * 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Distraction 24.4% 22.8% 23.2% 21.8% 21.7%
Speed / Driving too Fast 26.0% 25.2% 24.4% 25.5% 23.0%
Impaired / Under the Influence 22.9% 25.0% 26.2% 18.0% 15.2%
Fatigue 4.3% 3.8% 4.0% 3.5% 3.6%
Other Human Factor 39.9% 38.2% 39.3% 44.6% 41.5%
Environmental Factor 21.2% 19.9% 23.3% 23.8% 22.3%
Vehicle Factor 3.7% 5.2% 4.2% 3.6% 5.4%
No Contributing Factors 27.2% 30.0% 26.4% 26.9% 25.7%

Note: These data were estimated using submissions from a subset of Canada's provinces and territories.

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.

Report a problem with this page

Date modified: