Below are a list of the statistics used in the National Teen Driver Safety Week 2023 materials and their sources.

“Youth and young adults are killed in road crashes at a higher rate than any other age group under 75 years old.” Statistics Canada. (2020, January 24). Leading causes of death, total population, by age group [Table: 13-10-0394- 01]. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310039401

“With road crashes being the third-leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 24 years old (…).” Statistics Canada. (2020, January 24). Leading causes of death, total population, by age group [Table: 13-10-0394- 01]. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310039401

“(…) this age demographic [people aged 15-24 years old] has the highest rate of involvement in fatal collisions per 100,000 licenced drivers.” Transport Canada. (2022, December 23). Road Safety in Canada 2020. Transport Canada. https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/publications/road-safety-canada-2020 

“Peers can encourage unsafe driving behaviours, such as speeding or impaired driving, by praising or egging on a young driver (…).” Scott-Parker, B. (2017). Emotions, behaviour, and the adolescent driver: A literature review. Transportation research part F: traffic psychology and behaviour50, 1-37.

Peers “(…) can discourage unsafe driving behaviour by disapproving of it.” Trivedi, N., & Beck, K. H. (2018). Do significant others influence college-aged students texting and driving behaviors? Examination of the mediational influence of proximal and distal social influence on distracted driving. Transportation research part F: traffic psychology and behaviour56, 14-21.

“Young people are also more likely to follow the rules of the road if they believe they will get in trouble with their parents.” Scott-Parker, B., Goode, N., Salmon, P. M., & Senserrick, T. (2016). Knowing me knowing you: Key players and their interactions within the young driver road safety system. Safety science, 88, 88-96.

“Young drivers are more likely than middle-aged drivers to drive while distracted due to inexperience, maturity level and overestimating their ability to multitask.” Gershon, P., Zhu, C., Klauer, S. G., Dingus, T., & Simons-Morton, B. (2017). Teens’ distracted driving behavior: Prevalence and predictors. Journal of safety research, 63, 157-161. 

“An inexperienced driver may not understand road rules, not be able to safely handle dangerous driving situations, and have less ability to control the vehicle.”  Banz, B. C., Fell, J. C., & Vaca, F. E. (2019). Focus: Death: Complexities of Young Driver Injury and Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes. The Yale journal of biology and medicine, 92(4), 725.

“The brain does not fully develop until the age of 25 (…).” Banz, B. C., Fell, J. C., & Vaca, F. E. (2019). Focus: Death: Complexities of Young Driver Injury and Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes. The Yale journal of biology and medicine, 92(4), 725.

An underdeveloped brain “(…) can lead to poor judgment and organization, poor planning and decision-making, and more impulsive actions, which can all play a role in risky driving behaviour.” Starkey, N. J., & Isler, R. B. (2016). The role of executive function, personality and attitudes to risks in explaining self-reported driving behaviour in adolescent and adult male drivers. Transportation research part F: traffic psychology and behaviour, 38, 127-136

“Young people aged 16 to 24 report more cannabis use than other age groups in Canada and up to 25 per cent of 16- to 24-year-old cannabis users say they’ve driven after smoking, vaping or ingesting cannabis.” Government of Canada. (2020). Canadian Cannabis Survey 2022: Summary. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/research-data/canadian-cannabis-survey-2022-summary.html#s4

“Many youth perceive that cannabis has limited effects on driving.” Carpino, M., Langille, D., Ilie, G., & Asbridge, M. (2020). Cannabis-related driving and passenger behaviours among high school students: a cross-sectional study using survey data. Canadian Medical Association Open Access Journal, 8(4), E754-E761.

“Drivers aged 20 to 24 had the highest rate of alcohol impaired driving in 2019, according to police data.” Perreault, S. (2021, July 15). Impaired driving in Canada, 2019. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2021001/article/00012-eng.htm

“Speeding is involved in one-third of young driver deaths in Canada.” Traffic Injury Research Foundation. (2015). Trends Among Fatally Injured Teen Drivers, 2000-2012. https://tirf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Trends-Among-Fatally-Injured-Teen-Drivers-2000-2012_11_V6.pdf

“Speeding leads to decreased reaction time, requires a longer time to stop the vehicle, and makes it harder for the driver to steer safely around obstacles.” Vanlaar, W., Robertson, R. D., & Marcoux, K. (2008). The road safety monitor 2007: Excessive speeding. Traffic Injury Research Foundation. Ottawa, Canada.

“In 2021, 29 per cent of drivers and 36 per cent of passengers killed in serious crashes in Canada were not wearing seatbelts.” Transport Canada. (2023, April 13). Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2021. Transport Canada. https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/statistics-data  

“Those least likely to wear seatbelts include young male drivers and passengers, and drivers aged 18 to 24.” Strine, T.W., Beck, L.F., Bolen, J., Okoro, C., Dhingra, S., Balluz, L. (2010). Geographic and sociodemographic variation in self-reported seat-belt use in the United States. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 42(4), 1067-1071.

“Vision Zero is the philosophy that road fatalities and serious injuries are unacceptable, and can and should be eliminated while providing safe, healthy and equitable mobility for all road users.” Vision Zero Canada. (n.d.). Vision Zero Principles. Vision Zero. https://visionzero.ca/

“Vision Zero takes a Safe System Approach, which is an integrated and comprehensive process to improve the safety performance of the transportation system that makes allowance for errors and eliminates predictable and preventable serious injuries and fatalities.” Young, K. L., & Salmon, P. M. (2015). Sharing the responsibility for driver distraction across road transport systems: A Systems Approach to the management of distracted driving. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 74, 350-359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2014.03.017

“Young people have expressed that there are not enough affordable and accessible transportation options.” Yogalingam, U. (2023). For Young Drivers, By Young Drivers: A framework for accelerating youth engagement in road safety. Parachute Canada. https://parachute.ca

“Lack of [transportation] options can impact driving behaviour, including engaging in impaired driving or being passengers with drivers who are impaired.” Yogalingam, U. (2023). For Young Drivers, By Young Drivers: A framework for accelerating youth engagement in road safety. Parachute Canada. https://parachute.ca

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