History

Road Safety Vision (RSV) 2001

Canada was one of the first countries in the world to adopt a national road safety strategy and to date, three national strategies have been implemented.  Road Safety Vision (RSV) 2001 was Canada’s inaugural national road safety strategy. It was adopted by the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety in 1996. The progress made during RSV 2001 can be measured by the 10% decrease in fatalities and 16% decline in serious injuries despite steady increases in the road user population².

Road Safety Vision (RSV) 2010

In 2001, the second strategy, Road Safety Vision (RSV) 2010 was approved by the Council of Ministers. The vision and strategic objectives of this second road safety strategy were based on RSV 2001 and a decision was made to include an overall national target and sub-targets. The quantitative targets were intended to provide road safety stakeholders with key road safety indicators, against which the impact of intervention efforts could be measured.

The national target called for a 30% decrease in the average number of road users killed and seriously injured during the 2008-2010 period compared to 1996-2001 baseline figures. The proposed reductions in sub-targets ranged from 20% to 40% and addressed the specific areas of occupant protection, impaired driving, commercial vehicle safety, vulnerable road users, speed and intersection safety, rural roadways, young drivers and high-risk drivers.  It was expected that the achievement of these sub-targets would further reduce Canada’s road fatality total to fewer than 2,100 by 2010. Although the 30% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries was not achieved by 2010, it was achieved soon after in 2011³.

Road Safety Strategy (RSS) 2015

Road Safety Strategy (RSS) 2015 was launched in 2011 as Canada’s third national strategy and built upon the previous road safety vision and strategic objectives. RSS 2015 approached road safety in a different way introducing the safer systems concept as a holistic way to tackle road user, vehicle and road infrastructure issues and moved away from having established numerical targets

A significant shift in this strategy was the introduction of a framework of best practices, consisting of a matrix of key risk groups and contributing factors, along with an inventory of road safety initiatives that jurisdictions could adopt to address their specific jurisdictional priorities.

In 2013, the number of fatalities and serious injuries on Canada’s roads both decreased by 21% when compared to the 2006-2010 baseline period. When vehicle kilometres travelled are factored in, the reduction in fatality and serious injury rates are similar. According to the United Nations’ World Health Organization, “the best-performing countries have road fatality rates of around 5-7 killed per 100,000 population” ⁴. In 2012, Canada had a rate of 6.0 fatalities per 100,000 population⁵.  In 2012, Canada’s ranking among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries was 13th based on fatalities per billion vehicle kilometres traveled⁶.

Road Safety Strategy (RSS) 2025 

Road Safety Strategy (RSS) 2025 was similar to its predecessors in a number of ways. It retained the long-term vision of Making Canada’s roads the safest in the world but combined this with the vision of Towards Zero.

A number of principles key to the strategy’s success had been aligned with international best practices in road safety.

These principles included:

• Adopting the Safe System Approach
• A 10-year timeline
• Providing an inventory of provenThe 'proven' initiatives are best practices, nationally and/or internationally, that have measured effectiveness in reducing fatalities and serious injuries. and promisingThe 'promising' initiatives are good initiatives that have been reviewed but warrant further evaluation to demonstrate direct effectiveness in reducing fatalities and serious injuries. best practices to address key risk groups and contributing factors (See Resources).

RSS 2025 built on the work of Road Safety Strategy 2015 with a flexible approach to allow for jurisdictions to implement road safety programs that meet their own needs.

It encouraged road safety stakeholders from all levels of government as well as private sector and non-governmental stakeholders to collaborate and unite efforts to make Canada’s roads the safest in the world.

RSS 2025’s vision, “Towards Zero - The safest roads in the world” was based on an international best practice first adopted by Sweden in 1997 where Vision Zero was approved by its parliament and has permeated the country’s approach to road safety ever since.  It resulted in Sweden having among the lowest traffic-related fatality rates world-wide and led to other countries and municipal governments initiating similar approaches.

Towards Zero is not a target to be achieved by a certain date; it is aspirational. This vision will continue beyond RSS 2025’s timeline and highlights the desire for the best road safety outcomes for all Canadian jurisdictions.

Road Safety Strategy 2035 and Beyond 

Canada’s Road Safety Strategy 2035 and Beyond (RSS 2035+) is the fifth national framework aimed at reducing road fatalities and serious injuries. 

The strategy is guided by the vision “Towards Zero: A Safe Road System for All Canadians”, with the goal of continuing the long-term decline in road-related deaths and injuries. As a renewed framework, RSS 2035+ focuses on reducing the absolute number of fatalities and serious injuries, measured against a rolling three-year baseline.  

To support this approach, the strategy outlines eight strategic objectives and identifies key risk groups, including young and novice drivers, medically-at-risk drivers, vulnerable road users (e.g., pedestrians and cyclists), commercial vehicle drivers, high-risk drivers, and a specific populations group dependent on jurisdictional needs such as newcomers to Canada, aging and mature drivers, and users of evolving travel modalities. 

While long-term data show a significant decline in fatalities and serious injuries down 28% and 41% respectively compared to 20 years ago—recent years have seen concerning reversals. In 2023, Canada recorded 1,964 road fatalities, the highest number in the past 10 years, and 9,261 serious injuries, the highest in the last five years⁷. These figures highlight the persistent and evolving challenges in road safety, including issues such as impaired driving, distracted driving, and non-use of seatbelts. This context underscores the critical need for a renewed, data and research-driven strategy to reverse these trends and protect all road users. 

RSS 2035+ itself does not prescribe national targets; it encourages jurisdictions to set their own crash reduction goals based on local risk profiles and safety challenges.