Comparison of on-reserve road versus off-reserve road motor vehicle crashes in Saskatchewan, Canada: a case control study

Background. There is an overwhelmingly high incidence of severe injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) among Aboriginal Canadians as compared with the general population. Methods. The authors obtained MVC data for a 3-year period, 2003-2005, from Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) for collisions occurring on on-reserve roads (n = 1270) together with a randomly selected sample of MVCs from off-reserve roads (n = 1270) in Saskatchewan. They compared the collision characteristics using bivariate and multiple logistic regressions. Results. On-reserve MVCs were more likely to include multiple collisions and result in severe injuries than the offreserve sample. A number of factors were significantly related to the increased risk of on-reserve collisions as compared with the reference group for each variable. Interpretation. Factors from all 3 levels (human, environmental, and vehicle factors) are associated with on-reserve MVCs