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, a new study has shown.
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 US have been generally inching up since 2011 after a long period of decline, while in Canada deaths have continued to fall.
From 2011 to 2021, the number of fatalities in the US increased 33 per cent, 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 per cent, from 2,166 to 1,776.
Researchers found 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 US states also have strong laws on seat belts and distracted driving and laws allowing speed safety cameras, the report said such policies covered a larger share of the Canadian population than the US population.
“The US 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 US get back on the right track when it comes to road safety.”
IIHS recently announced 30×30 — a vision to reduce US road fatalities 30 per cent by 2030 — and is aiming to rally the safety community around it.
