Overview - Statistics
The Magnitude of the Alcohol/Drug-Related Crash Problem in Canada: Overview
MADD Canada has adopted a comprehensive approach in assessing the impairment-related (alcohol/drugs) crash problem in Canada. MADD Canada has attempted to obtain a complete picture which encompasses: alcohol and drugs; all types of vehicles and vessels; the full range of harms and losses (fatalities, injuries, property damage, and their social costs); and crashes that occur on public and private roads and property, and on the water. This broad approach is mandated by MADD Canada's mission, which is to assist all victims of impaired crashes and to reduce the total number of fatalities, injuries, and property damage crashes.
Other organizations and government agencies also publish reports on impairment-related crashes in Canada. Their data often differ from MADD Canada's, because they have defined their terms of reference more narrowly. For example, their fatality statistics may be limited to alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes occurring on public roads. Similarly, their injury data may be limited to injuries that require a hospital admission, and crashes that the police attend and for which they write a formal report. Simply because their data differ from those of MADD Canada does not mean that their data are inaccurate. Rather, these differences typically reflect their more limited scope of inquiry.
Fatalities
In 2009, it was estimated that 2,575 individuals were killed in motor vehicle crashes in Canada. MADD Canada estimates that at a minimum 1,074 of these fatalities were impairment-related. Moreover, in MADD Canada's opinion, the 1,074 figure is a conservative estimate, due to the underreporting that results from the inability to test surviving impaired drivers and from the need to rely on police reports.
As well, the 1,074 figure does not include individuals killed in impaired crashes on the waterways. In 2005, it was reported that there were 126 boating fatalities, 47 of which involved known or suspected alcohol use. Nor does the 1,074 figure include fatalities arising from aircraft, trains and industrial vehicles such as forklifts.
Given the limits on the 1,074 figure, MADD Canada estimates there are somewhere between 1,250 and 1,500 impairment-related crash deaths in Canada each year (3.4– 4.1 deaths per day).
Injuries
In 2009, it was estimated that about 303,850 individuals were injured in motor vehicle crashes. MADD Canada estimates that approximately 63,338 of these individuals were injured in impairment-related crashes (roughly 174 per day). Note that this figure is limited to motor vehicle crashes only.
Property Damage
In 2009, it was estimated that approximately 1,673,750 motor vehicles were involved in property damage-only crashes in Canada. MADD Canada estimates that approximately 209,336 of these vehicles were damaged in impairment-related crashes (roughly 574 per day).
Estimated Cost of Impaired Driving Crashes
Using a social cost model, impairment-related driving deaths, injuries and property damage-only crashes in Canada can be estimated to have cost $20.15 billion in 2009. This model is recent, is based on extensive analysis, and was prepared for the federal Ministry of Transportation. This figure is also limited to motor vehicle crashes.
Sources for the Data
The estimates for impaired driving used in this document are explained in a report entitled "Estimating the Number and Cost of Impairment-Related Traffic Crashes in Canada: 1999 to 2009" by Associate Professor Stephen G.A. Pitel and Professor Robert Solomon, both of the University of Western Ontario. That report is based in part on an earlier discussion paper, "Estimating the Presence of Alcohol and Drug Impairment in Traffic Crashes and their Costs to Canadians: 1999 to 2006" by G. William Mercer of Applied Research and Evaluation Services, University of British Columbia.
[Revised January 2012]
Find out more...
Official Sponsor
The Allstate Insurance Company of Canada is proud to be an official sponsor of MADD Canada.
Did You Know?
The tragic deaths and injuries caused by impaired driving are 100% preventable.
