Canadian Youth Road Safety Week

This awareness week, formerly known as National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW), takes place from October 19 to 25, 2026 with the theme Young Voices, Bold Ideas for #OurFutureRoads.

We’ve expanded our awareness week to include all young road users—drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users—with the goal of empowering 15- to 24-year-olds to become more involved in road safety and to create and support safe and equitable road systems in our communities. Read this article to learn more about why we moved from National Teen Driver Safety Week to Canadian Youth Road Safety Week: What’s in a name? Plenty!

Youth are vulnerable road users

Youth and young adults are injured in crashes at a higher rate than any other age group – and are killed at a higher rate than anyone except those over 70 years old.
Road crashes are the third-leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 24 in Canada, making youth some of the most vulnerable on our roads.

Youth as Changemakers

Here’s the good news: youth are a main part of the solution.

As young people inherit the imperfect transportation systems of today, they also have the power to reshape them. Their voices, ideas and actions are essential to making our streets safer.

When youth come together to improve road safety, it shifts the conversation from focusing on how people drive to how the transportation system as a whole can be more accessible and safer for everyone.

Youth are the experts of their own experiences and bring valuable ideas, energy, creativity and perspective to addressing road safety issues. Engaging youth in road safety creates opportunities for them to develop new skills, enables them to contribute positively to their communities and ultimately leads to healthier, safer young people.

Our key activity: Snap for Change

Through our key activity, Snap for Change, Parachute invites people of all ages across Canada to share their voices and advocate for road safety measures in their communities. Together, we can make safe, sustainable and inclusive roads a reality.

Is there an area in your neighbourhood that feels unsafe to walk, bike, scooter or drive? Maybe it’s an intersection with poor visibility or a street without sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, or an area where the speed limit is higher than 30 km/h.
Share your voice with us by joining the Snap for Change Initiative! Take a picture of the problem area, tell us what you think would make this area safer, advocate for change, and receive a $100 gift card for your submission. Your voice matters and together we can make our future roads safe for all.

New resource for youth: Youth Road Safety Advocacy Toolkit

Maybe you wish there was less speeding traffic on your route to school. Maybe you love biking to see your friends, but your neighbourhood doesn’t have enough separated bike lanes to make that ride feel safe. Whatever the issue, you don’t have to just live with it – you can help change it.

But how do you start? To help you, Parachute has launched our new Youth Road Safety Advocacy Toolkit, a step-by-step resource designed to help young people turn their concerns into real change.

The Youth Road Safety Advocacy Toolkit walks you through the entire advocacy process, including how to:

Identify a road safety issue in your own community
Gather evidence and stories to back up your case
Understand who makes decisions about your roads (and how to reach them)
Write compelling emails and letters to key decision makers and community influencers
Build support from classmates, neighbours and local organizations
Follow up and keep the momentum going after you’ve made your ask

Youth Road Safety Advocacy Toolkit coming soon!