ROAD SAFETY
Road-related incidents are one of the leading causes of unintentional injury death across all ages in BC.1
Each year, over 270 people are killed on public roads in BC.2
OVERVIEW
Each day, more than 820 crashes occur in BC, and around 170 of them result in an injury or fatality.3 Most of the injuries resulting from collisions involve vehicle drivers and passengers; however, injury also occurs among vulnerable road users—pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. Speeding, distracted driving (e.g., phone use and texting), and impaired driving (using alcohol, drugs, or medications) are the leading contributing factors for motor vehicle collisions.
Transport incidents cost British Columbians approximately $700 million dollars per year.4
Each year, more than 87,000 people are injured in motor vehicle crashes in BC.2
RESEARCH
BCIRPU supports road safety efforts at the policy, practice, and community levels. Road safety for all is one of the provincial priorities for injury prevention.
CHASE Study
The goal of Objective 3 of the CHASE study is to identify implementation strategies for built environment change at the municipal level to encourage safe, active transportation. Key informant interviews are being conducted in Vancouver and the surrounding area with those who have worked on projects involving optimizing the built environment—such as urban planners, researchers, school board representatives, and provincial transportation authorities—in order to identify the facilitators and barriers for implementing built environment change at the municipal level.6
Injury Trends in Cyclists in BC
The objective of this study is to investigate temporal trends in serious injury rates in cyclists, with a focus on understanding changes in crash counterparts. This is a retrospective review of data from the BC Trauma Registry and the Discharge Abstract Database on hospitalized pedal cyclist patients injured in land transport events over the period of April 1, April 2012 to March 31, 2019.
RESOURCES
- Injury Insight: Motorcycle Injuries in British Columbia (PDF) (May 2020)
- Injury Insight: Young Drivers: A Population at Risk (PDF) (May 2019, updated from July 2016)
- Injury Insight: Pedestrian Injury from Motor Vehicle Crashes in BC (PDF) (May 2017)
- Injury Insight: Road Safety Among Vulnerable Road Users (PDF) (November 2014)
- Injury Insight: Cycling Injuries in Children (PDF) (June 2011)
DATA
- Police Traffic Accident System Data, available on our Injury Data Online Tool (iDOT)
News
59 communities receive funding for Vision Zero projects
Over $1 million in grants to go towards improving vulnerable road user safety across British Columbia, including in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities.
Dr. Ian Pike receives fellowship from Japanese research society
Dr. Pike will work on a child passenger safety campaign with researchers in Chiba.
New website outlines financial and human cost of injury in BC
costofinjury.ca uses interactive charts and graphs to illustrate the burden of injury in BC.
37 projects funded in this year’s Vision Zero Grant Program
Projects funded include improvements such as crosswalk infrastructure, closed streets, traffic calming, speed limit reduction pilots, and road safety planning.
First-ever Vision Zero Summit in BC
Over 100 road safety experts, municipal government staff, civic leaders, researchers, and public health professionals attended the first-ever Vision Zero summit in BC.
October 15-21 is Teen Driver Safety Week
Youth are over-represented in all road-related injuries and deaths.
Injury Insight: Young drivers, a population at risk
This Injury Insight investigates the circumstances around teen driver deaths in BC.
1.Provincial injury prevention priorities. (2017). BC Injury Prevention Committee. Available at: http://www.bccdc.ca/pop-public-health/Documents/bcipc-provincial-injury-prevention-priorities-2017.pdf
2. Traffic Accident System Tool, Injury Data Online Tool, BCIRPU.
3. ICBC. Quick Statistics for the Media Manual: Crashes and Casualty Crashes. 5 year average from 2014-2018. Available from: https://www.icbc.com/about-icbc/newsroom/Documents/fatal-victims.pdf
4. Rajabali, F., Beaulieu, E., Smith, J., & Pike, I. (2018). The economic burden of injuries in British Columbia: Applying evidence to practice. British Columbia Medical Journal, 60(7), 358-364. [Cost converted to 2020 dollars with CPI].
5. ICBC RoadSafetyBC. Motor vehicle related crashes, injuries and fatalities. 10-year statistics for British Columbia, 2010-2019. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, 2020. Available at: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/driving-and-transportation/driving/roadsafetybc/data/motor_vehicle_related_crashes_injuries_and_fatalities_in_british_columbia_2010-2019.pdf
6. Hagel, B. E., Macpherson, A., Howard, A., Fuselli, P., Cloutier, M. S., Winters, M., … & Hubka, T. (2019). The built environment and active transportation safety in children and youth: a study protocol. BMC public health, 19(1), 1-13.
7. Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators. Canada’s Road Safety Strategy; 2025: Towards Zero: the Safest Roads in the World (2016). Available at: https://roadsafetystrategy.ca/web/road-safety-strategy/files/public/docs/RSS-2025-Report-January-2016-with%20cover.pdf
8. Government of BC. (2016). PHO’s Annual Report: Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Reducing the Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes on Health and Well-Being in BC. Available from: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/reports-publications/annual-reports/reducing-motor-vehicle-crashes-bc.pdf