ORSAR 2001 - Minister's Message

Ontario's roads - the safest in North America

I'm pleased to present The Ontario Road Safety Annual Report (ORSAR) 2001.

These latest statistics show that the Ontario government's road safety initiatives are working. They show that on the basis of fatalities per 10,000 licensed drivers, Ontario has the safest roads in all of North America, an achievement that we take pride in sharing with our many road safety partners.

ORSAR is a comprehensive compilation of motor vehicle collision data from many sources, including other ministries, police forces and the Office of the Chief Coroner. The information is critical in tracking trends and providing a knowledge base for developing initiatives to further improve road safety.

We are encouraged by the findings in ORSAR 2001. Fatalities in motor vehicle collisions continued a 13-year positive downward trend, from 849 in 2000 to 845 in 2001 - the lowest number since 1950. The fatality rate decreased to 1.02 in 2001, from 1.05 in 2000.

That's impressive considering Ontario's growing economy generated record numbers of drivers and vehicles on the province's roads. There are almost 8.3 million drivers in the province and 7.3 million registered vehicles.

Other ORSAR 2001 highlights include:

• Fewer people were injured in collisions.
• Although there were more large trucks on the province's highways, fewer large trucks were involved in fatal collisions - 136 in 2001, compared to 146 in 2000.
• The number of people killed in collisions involving drinking and driving also decreased from 227 in 2000, to 204 in 2001.

Road user safety remains a top priority for our government. Since 1995, we have introduced tough legislation, including measures like the Ignition Interlock program to help keep drinking drivers off our roads. We have also increased enforcement, launched public education programs and invested more than $7.5 billion in highway projects to promote the safe and efficient movement of people and goods.

The Ministry of Transportation works in close partnership with police, community groups, industry, municipalities, and safety organizations.

As you can see, together we have made major strides in improving our road safety record. But we recognize there is much more to yet to do. We will continue to work with our partners to improve road safety even further.

I hope you will find this report informative.

Norm Sterling
Ontario Minister of Transportation