Reflections wrote:So again, why do we, Ontario, have the safest roads in North America if we all can't drive?
Since you asked for it... Safest roads by definition meant fewest fatalities per vehicle kilometre or per licensed driver. Some reasons:
* Ontario has vast swaths of uninhabited areas, but most of us live in cities. Urban areas have lower fatality rates. (Studies have shown that.) More urbanized = lower death rates, less urbanized = higher death rates. Example: The states with the lowest percentage of urban population (Montana, Alaska) have the highest death rates.
* Greater population density in urban area = lower fatality rates. GTA is the most densely populated area in North America, where over half of Ontario's residents are.
* 400-Series Highways have the highest safety and design standards in NA, although there are some exceptions here and there.
* Highest rate of compliance with seat-belt laws. This is the biggest factor saving your life in a crash. 10% of Americans do not wear their seat belts but 55% of fatalities on US roads were not wearing their belts, similar numbers in Canada. Thank people like bear for seat belt enforcement...
* Lowest rate of drunk driving in North America. I will credit good police work and education here. SK & MT have the highest rates of drunk driving in Canada & US respectively, also, highest rate of vehicular fatalities.
* Daytime running lights. (Granted, this is Canada-wide but it is a contributing factor.)
* Emergency services, EMS and air ambulance are very good at what they do; hospitals, particularly Sunnybrook & St. Mike's are experts at treating vehicular trauma cases.
* Most Ontarians outside of GTA & Ottawa drive in a respectful and responsible manner.
All of that combines to make our roads "safe" in terms of low death rates. GTA has some of the highest collision and injury rates in NA, but very low fatality rates, probably due to the above reasons. In other words, we hit things a lot, but we don't get killed very often.