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Making Canada’s roads the safest
in the world

Road Safety

Road safety is a key priority for Canada. As our communities grow and transportation systems evolve, ensuring the safety of all road users—drivers, passengers, pedestrians, transit users and cyclists alike—remains a national imperative.  

Over the past decade, Canada has experienced a gradual but uneven trend in road safety outcomes. While long-term data show a significant decline in fatalities and serious injuries—down 28% and 41% respectively compared to 20 years ago—recent years have seen concerning reversals. In 2023, Canada recorded 1,964 road fatalities, the highest number in the past 10 years, and 9,261 serious injuries, the highest in the last five years. 1  

Together, through education, enforcement, engineering, and engagement, we are working to make Canada’s roads among the safest in the world—because every life matters.   

1 Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2023   

Canada's Road Safety Strategy

Canada’s Road Safety Strategy 2035 and Beyond (RSS 2035+) is guided by the vision “Towards Zero: A Safe Road System for All Canadians”, with the goal of continuing the long-term decline in road-related deaths and injuries.  

The new strategy builds on the progress of previous decades while embracing innovation, inclusivity, and evidence-based action. It recognizes the evolving nature of transportation and related safety issues, shaped by new technologies, climate imperatives, and changing mobility patterns—and responds with a framework that is continuously adaptive, collaborative, and forward-thinking.   

As a renewed framework, RSS 2035+ focuses on reducing the absolute number of fatalities and serious injuries, measured against a rolling three-year baseline – because one life lost is too many. 

Drugs and Driving

Drug impaired driving is a growing road safety concern in Canada. Impairment, whether from cannabis, alcohol, prescription or illegal drugs, fatigue or other factors, is a significant road safety issue.

CCMTA members continue to collaborate and work collectively to identify best practices and approaches to policy, legislation, research, public education, and enforcement to address drug impaired driving.

By working together and sharing knowledge, members can determine and evaluate the best strategies to address drug impaired driving and discuss potential solutions that have a pan-Canadian impact.

Alcohol and Drug Roadside Surveys:

Roadside surveys have been conducted by a number of Canadian jurisdictions over the years, including British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Yukon. These surveys were originally developed to assess alcohol use by drivers, but over time, methods have been adjusted to include drug use by drivers.

Additional Research and Resources:

Alcohol and Drug Crash Problem in Canada

This report describes the magnitude and characteristics of the alcohol-crash and drug-crash problems in Canada during a particular year, trends in these problems, and comparisons between jurisdictions.

It examines data on alcohol in fatally injured drivers and pedestrians; the number and percent of people who died in alcohol-related crashes; alcohol involvement in those crashes in which someone was seriously injured but not killed; and data on drugs in fatally injured drivers.

Distracted Driving

Driver distraction and inattention is one of the leading contributing factors to fatal and serious injury collisions across Canada and as such, CCMTA members recognize that it is a serious and growing threat to road safety in Canada.

Distracted driving is when a driver’s attention is diverted from the driving task by secondary activities (e.g., eating, talking to passengers, talking, or texting on electronic communication devices (ECDs) such as cell phones and smart phones). Although there are many forms of ‘distracted driving’, much of the reported evidence available is related to electronic communication device use.

CCMTA supports its members by providing information and knowledge as they develop policy and legislation to address distracted driving:

Surveys on the Use of Electronic Communication Devices (ECDs) in Canada

Combined Urban / Rural Areas:

Urban Areas:

Rural Areas:

Additional Research and Resources

Countermeasures to Improve Pedestrian Safety
Public Opinion Survey on Road Safety

Road Safety Award

Created in support of Canada's Road Safety Strategy 2035 and Beyond (RSS 2035+), the Road Safety Award recognizes CCMTA government members or associates (individuals, groups, departments, and/or organizations) who have implemented strategies aimed at reducing injury and death on Canada's roads.   

Collision Data

Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics

These pamphlets, published by Transport Canada from data supplied by CCMTA member jurisdictions, details Canadian collision statistics on a yearly basis.

National Collision Database (NCDB) Online

Transport Canada has undertaken to release a subset of the National Collision Database (NCDB) – a database containing all police-reported motor vehicle collisions on public roads in Canada from data supplied by CCMTA member jurisdictions. Selected variables (data elements) relating to fatal and injury collisions for the collisions from 1999 to the most recent available data are now accessible through NCDB  Online.

Canadian Council of Motor
Transport Administrators

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Email: info@ccmta.ca

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CCMTA acknowledges it is located on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people.

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