Strong road safety policies have helped keep Canada on track, study shows

Stronger distracted driving and seat belt laws and more widespread use of speed safety cameras are among the policies that have helped keep Canada on track when it comes to reducing road fatalities while the U.S. has faltered, a new study shows.

Researchers from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Canada’s Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) sought to understand the reasons behind the different road safety pictures in the two countries. Traffic deaths in the U.S. have been generally inching up since 2011 after a long period of decline, while in Canada deaths have continued to fall.

“The U.S. could learn a lot from our northern neighbor,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “Our countries are culturally very similar, so there is reason to believe that many policies that work there could help the U.S. get back on the right track when it comes to road safety.”

IIHS recently announced 30x30 — a vision to reduce U.S. road fatalities 30% by 2030 — and is aiming to rally the safety community around it. The goal flips the more than 30% rise in road deaths that occurred in the U.S. in recent years. IIHS estimates show that it’s attainable with the right combination of policy changes.

Among 29 high-income countries, the U.S. has the highest per capita crash fatality rate — more than twice the average of the other 28. Many of the other countries have been more ambitious with their safety policies in recent decades, especially when it comes to things like speed and alcohol. That is true of Canada, whose per capita fatality rate is less than half that of the U.S. and which ranks 14th among the 28 countries.

“Many of the countries that managed to improve road safety in recent years have leaned into the Safe System framework, which approaches risks from all angles to create overlapping layers of protection and ensure that no single mistake is fatal,” said IIHS Senior Research Scientist Becca Weast, a co-author of the new paper. “Canada’s policies reflect that approach.”

More miles, fewer fatalities

From 2011 to 2021, the number of fatalities in the U.S. increased 33%, from 32,479 to 43,230. In Canada, from 2011 to 2020, the last year data were available at the time of the study, road fatalities declined 18%, from 2,166 to 1,776. The progress occurred despite the fact that in Canada the population, number of licensed drivers and miles driven all increased at a greater pace than in the U.S. during this time period.

U.S. and Canadian fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled

The researchers found that specific crash types that were associated with the biggest fatality increases in the U.S. were the same types that went down by large percentages in Canada.

For example, pedestrian and cyclist fatalities rose 64% in the U.S. but fell 17% in Canada. Fatalities involving large trucks increased 54% in the U.S. and decreased 24% in Canada. Crash deaths involving young drivers fell by an impressive 52% in Canada while inching up 17% in the U.S. Deaths involving alcohol impairment and speed also went up in the U.S. and down in Canada.

Laws make a difference

Statistical models showed that population growth, economic activity and employment were linked to higher fatalities. But they also showed that road safety policy in Canada is making a difference. Laws against mobile phone use while driving, stricter seat belt laws and more widespread use of safety cameras all reduced fatalities.

While many U.S. states also have strong laws on seat belts and distracted driving and laws allowing speed safety cameras, such policies covered a larger share of the Canadian population than the U.S. population over the 2011-21 study period.

Fatalities would have been lower in the U.S. if these laws were as widespread as they were in Canada, the authors concluded. However, even with those laws, fatalities still would have risen, so other types of policies are also needed.

The authors chose to look at laws about distraction, seat belt use and speed safety cameras because information on them was consistently available. But they noted several factors not included in the models that may have contributed to the diverging trends.

These include differences in laws around impaired driving. In most U.S. states, there are no penalties for most drivers if they are stopped with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) between 0.05% and 0.08%. In contrast, all Canadian provinces except Quebec impose administrative penalties at low-BACs. In addition, Canadian police can demand a roadside breath test from any driver without suspicion of impairment as is required in the U.S. Refusing a test is a criminal offense in Canada.

“This study demonstrates the real-world potential impact of evidence-based policies in terms of lives saved. Thoughtful implementation combined with stakeholder consultation are critical elements of success,” said Craig Lyon, director of road safety engineering at TIRF and the new paper’s lead author. “Equally important, public education and transparency with respect to implementation are necessary to combat misinformation and establish widespread support.”