Each year, over 270 people are killed on public roads in BC.2

OVERVIEW

Each day, over 760 traffic crashes happen in BC, with about 150 being serious or fatal.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 rank as the third highest injury costs in BC. In 2023, the total cost of transport incidents in BC was $575 million. This includes $364 million in direct costs, like health care expenses, and $211 million in indirect costs, such as lost productivity.4

Men accounted for almost twice the injury costs from transport incidents compared to women, with the most significant cost differences between genders observed in the 25-64-year-old age group.4

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Each year, more than 78,000 people are injured in motor vehicle crashes in BC.5

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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.

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CHASE Study

The CHASE study (Child Active Transportation Safety and the Environment) is exploring how municipalities implement built environment changes in order to increase active transportation. Built environment changes, such as pedestrian-controlled lights at crosswalks, are used to reduce the risk of motor vehicle crashes and injury among pedestrians and cyclists, as well as motor vehicle occupants.

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

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PREVENTION

The safe systems approach to road safety looks to implement evidence-based measures for:^7,8

• Safe drivers
• Safe speeds
• Safe roads
• Safe vehicles

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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)

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DATA

• Police Traffic Accident System Data, available on our Injury Data Online Tool (iDOT)