Question Period Note: Road Safety - Federal Leadership

• Transport Canada is committed to working closely with all levels of government and a broad stakeholder community to make Canada’s roads the safest in the world.
• Over the last decade, there has been significant progress - the number of fatalities on Canada’s roads has decreased by 13%, and injuries have decreased by 20%. This progress was achieved despite considerable growth in the number of drivers and the amount of traffic.
• This progress is owing to safer vehicles, improvements in road infrastructure, and better driver behaviour. Transport Canada played a key role, developing numerous motor vehicle regulations over the last decade, covering electronic stability controls, steering control systems, child restraints, headlights, and occupant protection.
• Most recently, on February 14, 2020, at the meeting of the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety, I announced a number of specific road safety measures, including:
o Approval of a national standard for entry-level training of truck drivers, which will help ensure that they have the expertise and knowledge to safely operate their vehicles across Canada; and
o Approval of next steps to strengthen school bus safety in Canada, including camera technologies, extended stop-arms, and automatic emergency braking.
• There is more work to be done to strengthen road safety. Together, all federal, provincial and territorial Ministers have committed to working toward Vision Zero – zero fatalities, zero injuries on Canada’s roads. Taking action in this area, Transport Canada is:
o Developing rules to support the safe testing and deployment of automated vehicles in Canada;
o Developing regulations to better protect pedestrians and cyclists, such as blind-spot monitoring and collision warning; and
o Working with British Columbia and the City of Sudbury to conduct pilots on the use of seatbelts on school buses.

IF PRESSED ON ALIGNMENT WITH U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL ALLIES

• Transport Canada adopts international motor vehicle safety standards when they improve safety on Canada’s roads and fit the Canadian context, such as the high bar for safety in winter weather.
• For example, in keeping with free trade agreements and international obligations, Transport Canada works closely with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to harmonize our motor vehicle regulatory requirements. This includes, for example, braking, steering and tire safety requirements.
• In parallel, Transport Canada is increasingly harmonizing with European regulations, such as the 2019 headlights regulations that allowed manufacturers to adopt European standards to mitigate the risk of glare from high beams.
• Transport Canada also exercises global leadership in this area, including chairing several United Nations committees on global technical regulations that cover, for example, automated features and alternative energy vehicles.

On February 25, 2020, the Minister of Transport received an open letter from road experts, calling for federal leadership to strengthen road safety in Canada. The letter was published in the Ottawa Citizen, and signed by British Columbia road safety expert Neil Arason, author of No Accident: Eliminating Injury and Death on Canadian Roads, along with Graham Larkin, the head of Vision Zero Canada, and Ahmed Shalaby, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Manitoba and technical director of Safer Roads Canada.

The letter was written shortly after the United Nations Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, which occurred on February 17-20, 2020, and resulted in the Stockholm Declaration. This declaration sets out specific targets for road safety, including a commitment to reduce the number of road fatalities by 50% by 2030. Transport Canada supports the declaration, because federal and provincial/territorial Ministers responsible for road safety have already committed to Vision Zero, which commits governments to work together achieve zero fatalities and zero injuries on Canada’s roads by 2025.

Since 1975 (when the department began compiling data), there has been a significant downward trend in motor vehicle casualties. Fatalities have decreased by almost 68%, while serious injuries have declined by 62%. This notable progress was achieved despite significant growth in Canada’s population, number of licensed drivers (+122%) and number of registered vehicles (+124%).

Safer vehicles, road infrastructure, and road user behaviour have all contributed to this greater level of safety. In addition, Transport Canada has introduced or updated a large number of vehicle safety regulations over the last decade. These include regulations touching on vehicle safety features such as electronic stability control, door lock and door retention, truck anti-lock brakes, steering control systems, head restraints, child restraints, seat anchorage strength, occupant protection in frontal collisions, tires, headlights, rear view mirror visibility, electronic logging devices, helmet and seatbelt use.

Most recently, at the February 14, 2020, meeting of the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety, Minister Garneau announced a number of landmark measures to continue improving road safety, including:
• Approval of the Strengthening School Bus Safety in Canada Task Force Report which identified promising technologies that can make school buses even safer, such as camera technologies, automatic emergency braking, and extended stop-arms; and
• Approval of a national standard for entry-level training of commercial drivers to help ensure that commercial drivers across Canada have the knowledge and expertise to safely operate their vehicles.

These accomplishments build on Transport Canada’s longstanding leadership with respect to road safety. The following are a non-exhaustive list of examples:
• In June 2018, Transport Canada hosted a Roundtable on Distracted Driving to discuss this issue with vehicle manufacturers, telecommunication organizations, emerging technology developers, provinces, territories and other key safety partners.
• In February 2019, the department published the Guidelines to Limit Distractions from Visual Displays in Vehicles, which can be found at http://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/road/stay-safe-when-driving/guidelines-limit-distraction-visual-displays-vehicles.html.
• Similarly, Transport Canada is taking action to better protect vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and cyclists. In October 2018, the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety published its report on Safety Measures for Cyclists and Pedestrians around Heavy Vehicles – Summary Report. Based on extensive consultation with the road safety community, the report describes 57 safety measures to better protect vulnerable road users. Examples include:
- automated enforcement technologies, such as speed and red-light cameras;
- roadway and cycling infrastructure, such as segregated cycling tracks; and
- visibility and awareness measures, such warnings in heavy trucks to detect nearby cyclists and reflective clothing.
• Further, in January 2019, the Council of Ministers approved next steps for the implementation of the report, with an emphasis on pilot projects, knowledge exchange, and reviewing safety standards and regulations. To build momentum in this area, Transport Canada has launched on road field trials, in collaboration with municipal partners, to evaluate the effectiveness of a detection and visibility system on commercial vehicles.

Transport Canada also works closely with provinces and territories through the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators on measures to strengthen commercial motor vehicle safety, and prevent fatigue and distracted driving. For example, in June 2017, Transport Canada published a regulation to mandate electronic stability control to improve driver control and help prevent rollovers; and in July 2018, Transport Canada published regulations requiring seatbelts on all new medium and large commercial highway buses to improve bus occupant safety, especially in the event of severe bus collisions. In June 2019, Transport Canada published a regulation mandating electronic logging devices (ELDs) for commercial carriers, which replace paper-based daily logbooks to reduce the risk of fatigue-related collisions.

Recognizing that leadership in this area starts with strong legislation, in March 2018, Transport Canada amended the Motor Vehicle Safety Act to afford greater flexibility in the department’s regulatory regime to keep pace with emerging technologies. Taking action in this area, Transport Canada has released a suite of guidance and tools to provide further clarity and direction on automated vehicles:
• Canada’s Safety Framework for Automated and Connected Vehicles, released in February 2019, articulates the department’s vision for safety and provides access to guidance and tools that support the safe testing and deployment of automated and connected vehicles in Canada;
• The Safety Assessment for Automated Driving Systems in Canada, also released in February 2019, sets out safety expectations for industry as they develop automated vehicles; and
• Testing Highly Automated Vehicles in Canada: Guidelines for Trial Organizations, published in June 2018, promotes a minimum set of safety practices and support a consistent national approach to the testing of automated and connected vehicles.

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