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In 2002, there were 6.5 million motor vehicle crashes in Canada and the United States, resulting in almost 45,000 deaths and 3.4 million injuries. On average, more than 123 people were killed every day that year, five every hour.

If the cause were a virus or major storm it would result in massive efforts to address the problem. But the death rate on the roads has remained relatively constant for decades with tens of thousands of people dying every year.

The economic costs associated with this carnage have been estimated at $230-billion (U.S.) in the United States and between $7.5-billion (Canadian) and $20-billion in Canada.

The leading cause of death among young people in North America is automobile crashes -- most attributed to aggressive driving or speeding.

There is concern that advertising might play a role in this type of behaviour among this young and easily influenced group, advertising by auto makers in particular.

Dr. John Granton, program director of critical care medicine at the University of Toronto, along with four other doctors (Phillip Shin, David Hallett, Mary Chipman and Charles Tator), recently completed a study into the issue and published the results in the Journal of Public Health.

Funded by the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the study sought to identify the "prevalence and types of unsafe driving portrayed in American and Canadian TV car commercials as well as the use of safety promotion and disclaimers."

A group of university students studied every English-language automobile or truck commercial 30 seconds in length or greater that aired on major national broadcast or cable networks in the two countries in January or July between 1998 and 2002. A total of 349 commercials were reviewed -- 250 of those containing a driving sequence greater than three seconds were used for the study.

Of these 250 commercials, more than 45 per cent were judged to contain at least one unsafe driving sequence.

Car companies spend billions in television advertising ($6.5-billion (U.S.) in the United States alone each year), and in the push to break through and have their particular ad noticed, agencies are turning more and more to a highly visual and action-oriented message.

In Australia and New Zealand, the auto industry operates under a code of practice for such ads. In the United Kingdom, a regulatory body sets specific standards for the commercial. No such entity is in place here, where cross-border television signals mean the same commercial is often seen or used in both countries.

Using guidelines established in co-operation with critical care physicians working at Mount Sinai Hospital and Toronto police, a number of unsafe driving practices were identified and broken into four areas: aggressive driving, inattentive driving, failure to use safety equipment and miscellaneous traffic violations.

Of the 250 commercials studied, 105 were judged to contain unsafe driving practices. Of these, 85 per cent were found to demonstrate aggressive driving; 11 per cent inattentive driving and 4 per cent miscellaneous traffic violations.

No ads were found to contain instances of lack of or improper use of safety equipment (seat belts). An amazing 34 per cent of the commercials contained multiple violations. Speed was a common theme in the findings, accounting for 60 per cent of the violations. Vehicles were shown at high speed in 58 per cent of the ads and the power of the vehicle was mentioned in 23 per cent.

The study reports that written disclaimers explaining that the scenes were shot under controlled conditions or using professional drivers were found in 22 per cent of the offending commercials and they appeared on screen for an average of 2.6 seconds.

Of the 141 commercials in which the sex of the driver was evident, 82 per cent were male and 18 per cent female.

Traffic safety practitioners as well as the medical and law enforcement communities know that aggressive driving and speed are the biggest base causes of crashes, injuries and deaths, especially among young drivers. While hardly conclusive, this study points out a very significant factor that might be contributing to the problem.

Halifax-based Richard Russell runs a driving school.

globeauto@globeandmail.ca