Road deaths fall by a third in the Outaouais, but injuries keep climbing

Tashi Farmilo

Far fewer people died on Outaouais roads in 2025, even as the number of injured in crashes rose sharply. That is the local picture in Bilan routier 2025, the annual road safety report released by the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec on June 16.

Thirteen people were killed in Outaouais collisions last year, down from 20 in 2024. This decrease of seven deaths, about 35 per cent, was one of the steepest in the province, and it left the region 29.3 per cent below its average for the period from 2020 to 2024. While provincewide deaths increased by 0.7 per cent against the same five-year benchmark, the Outaouais moved firmly against the trend.

Serious injuries fell locally too. The region recorded 52 people seriously injured, down from 64 the year before and 12.2 per cent below the five-year average. Across Quebec, serious injuries rose 3.1 per cent.

The improvement stops there. The Outaouais counted 1,083 people slightly injured in 2025, up from 877 in 2024, a jump of 23.5 per cent in a single year and 17.4 per cent above the five-year average. Counting every category, 1,148 people were injured on the region's roads, up from 961 in 2024 and 14.8 per cent above the local average. In short, the crashes that killed fewer people in the Outaouais were still sending more residents to hospitals.

Across Quebec, 371 people died on the roads in 2025, eight fewer than the 379 recorded in 2024. But injuries climbed on nearly every measure. The province logged 1,282 people seriously injured, one more than the year before, and 28,365 slightly injured, an increase of 1,632. In all, 30,018 people were injured on Quebec roads, 1,625 more than in 2024, a rise of 5.7 per cent that still sits below pre-pandemic levels.

The agency put Quebec's fatality rate at 4.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants for 2025, down slightly from 4.2 the year before. The SAAQ noted the province generally ranks second among Canadian provinces, behind Ontario.

Behind the provincial totals, some groups moved sharply in the wrong direction. Measured against the 2020–2024 average, road deaths rose among people aged 75 and over, those aged 15 to 24, motorcyclists and pedestrians, while cyclist deaths fell. The oldest drivers stood out: 73 people aged 75 or older died in 2025, up 38.3 per cent from the average, and they now account for one in five road deaths in Quebec. Their death rate climbed from 6.4 to 8.3 per 100,000, and serious injuries in that age group surged from 66 in 2024 to 103. Among those aged 15 to 24, deaths rose to 53, and their fatality rate climbed from 4.4 to 5.3.

Heavy vehicles also figured in a growing share of the worst outcomes. Collisions involving a heavy vehicle were linked to 102 deaths across Quebec, the highest count in the 2020-to-2025 period and up from 98 in 2024.

Transport Minister Benoit Charette said every life lost on the province's roads is one tragedy too many and that improving safety is a shared responsibility. The SAAQ's president and chief executive, Serge Lamontagne, said the rise in the number of people involved in crashes is concerning and called road safety everyone's job. "There is one death every day on Quebec roads," he said. "One death is always one too many."