How Dangerous Are Canada's Roads for Young People?

Quick answer: 300 young people aged 15 to 24 were killed on Canada's roads in 2023, and another 1,718 were seriously injured, according to Transport Canada's official collision statistics. Road crashes are the third-leading cause of death among Canadians aged 15 to 24, says road-safety charity Parachute. And it is happening right now: Parachute is marking Canadian Youth Road Safety Week from October 19 to 25, 2026.

A week focused on young road users

Canadian Youth Road Safety Week — formerly known as National Teen Driver Safety Week — runs from October 19 to 25, 2026. It is organised by Parachute, Canada's national road-safety charity, and this year's theme is "Young Voices, Bold Ideas for #OurFutureRoads".

Parachute says youth and young adults are injured in crashes at a higher rate than any other age group — and killed at a higher rate than anyone except people over 70. Road crashes are the third-leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 24 in Canada, the charity says, making young Canadians some of the most vulnerable people on the country's roads.

The week brings schools, police services and community groups together with one message: young drivers — and young passengers — can protect themselves with a handful of simple choices.

What the 2023 numbers show

Transport Canada's Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics (CMVTCS) for 2023 — the latest official national figures, drawn from police reports in every province and territory — record:

• 1,964 people killed in motor vehicle collisions across Canada in 2023, up 1.7% from 1,931 in 2022
• 9,261 people seriously injured and admitted to hospital, up 0.9% from 2022
• Ages 15 to 19: 136 fatalities and 768 serious injuries
• Ages 20 to 24: 164 fatalities and 950 serious injuries
• Combined ages 15 to 24: 300 fatalities and 1,718 serious injuries — about 15% of every road death in the country

For context, the age group with the most deaths in 2023 was people aged 65 and over (446), followed by ages 25 to 34 (336). The full age-by-age breakdown is on this site's Road deaths in Canada statistics page.

Passengers are especially at risk

The Transport Canada tables reveal a pattern that surprises many parents: when young people die or are badly hurt, they are often passengers rather than drivers.

• Among 15 to 19-year-olds, 14.6% of passenger fatalities were in this age group, compared with 6.3% of driver fatalities.
• Among 20 to 24-year-olds, 11.1% of passenger fatalities were in this age group, compared with 8.6% of driver fatalities.
• The same tilt appears in serious injuries: 15 to 19-year-olds were 13.6% of passenger serious injuries but only 7.4% of driver serious injuries; for 20 to 24-year-olds it was 14.0% against 10.4%.

In plain terms: young Canadians are frequently hurt while riding with other young, inexperienced drivers. Choosing who you ride with matters as much as how you drive yourself. If the driver has been drinking, is speeding, or is distracted, get out of the car — that one decision can be the difference between a close call and a funeral.

What causes these crashes

Transport Canada estimates the factors most often recorded in fatal collisions in 2023:

• Speed or driving too fast: 24.8% of fatal collisions
• Impairment by alcohol or drugs: 21.9%
• Distraction: 17.8%
• Fatigue: 3.3%

A single collision can have more than one factor, and the estimates come from a subset of provinces — but the message is consistent year after year: speed and impairment are the two biggest killers on Canadian roads, and distraction is close behind.

Seat belts matter too. In 2023, 32.6% of drivers killed in Canada were not wearing a seat belt, and 32% of passengers killed were unbelted. No seat belt can prevent every death, but the share of unbelted people among the dead is far higher than among road users in general — buckling up is the single cheapest life-saver there is.

How young drivers and passengers can stay safer

• Pick your driver. Never ride with someone who has been drinking, is tired, or drives too fast. Passengers are over-represented among young victims — your driver's choices are your risk too.
• Buckle up, every seat, every trip. Nearly a third of those killed in 2023 were not wearing a seat belt.
• Put the phone away. Distraction was recorded in nearly one in five fatal crashes. A text can wait; a crash cannot be undone.
• Slow down at night and in bad weather. Speed was a factor in a quarter of fatal collisions. Canada's long winter driving season makes this doubly important.
• Know the rules. Canada's driving laws set the alcohol limit at 0.08 and motorway speed limits at 100 km/h in most provinces — they apply to every driver, whatever their age.

For a sense of what is happening on Canadian roads right now, see today's accident reports, updated every 15 minutes.

How these numbers were counted

The casualty figures in this article come from Transport Canada's Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics (CMVTCS) 2023, compiled from the National Collision Database — police-reported collisions from every province and territory. "Serious injuries" means injuries that required admission to hospital. These 2023 figures are the latest final national numbers available; provinces report at different speeds, so Ontario and Alberta's 2023 data are preliminary and New Brunswick's were estimated. Earlier years in the national tables are revised editions, so small differences from older reports are normal. The Youth Road Safety Week dates, theme and the third-leading-cause claim come from Parachute, the Canadian charity that runs the week.