Toronto, Ontario — March 13, 2016 — Crashes on Ontario’s highways fell by over 6,000 in 2015 compared to 2014, according to a report released by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). The OPP responded to 69,469 road collisions in 2015, compared to 75,644 in 2014.
Most of the accidents occurred between passenger vehicles. Breaking down the data, collisions involving large commercial transport trucks decreased to 5,373 collisions in 2015, compared to 6,307 in 2014. Motorcycle accidents increased to 838 in 2015 compared to 803 in 2014.
There were fewer accidents in 2015, but the crashes that did occur had a higher toll in human lives. According to the data, 299 people were killed in road collisions in OPP jurisdiction in 2015, compared to 288 in 2014.
The “Big Four” causes of road fatalities—alcohol/drugs, inattentive, speed, no seat belt—were all down in 2015. In particular, last year marks the lowest number of alcohol/drug related deaths in more than ten years and the lowest number of inattentive-related road deaths since Ontario introduced distracted driving laws in 2009. Tragically, last year there were more road crashes in which more than one life was lost than in the previous year. In 2015, there were four times as many crashes in which three people died and sadly, one of the collisions claimed the lives of four people.
“The OPP are concerned that more people died in road crashes in 2015 than in the previous year. We are encouraged to see lower numbers in all of the Big Four fatality causal factor categories, but we need to see drivers keep this downward trend going. There is no worse place to take risks, exercise poor judgment and make mistakes than behind the wheel,” said OPP Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair, Provincial Commander of Traffic Safety and Operational Support.
Collisions reported to the OPP can be seen in the graph below, broken down by month:
