The BC Coroners Service has released a report indicating that motor vehicle deaths increased from 299 to 314 from 2017 to 2018.
Despite the increase, the 314 motor vehicle deaths last year is below the annual average of 326 a year over a ten-year period, ending in 2018.
One third (34 percent) of the deaths between 2008 and 2016 were a result of drug and alcohol use.
Between 2011 and 2016, nearly 29 percent of drivers and passengers who died were not wearing a seatbelt.
The data shows a five percent increase in motorcycle-involved fatalities, as 16 percent of the 314 motor vehicle deaths, last year involved motorcycles or mopeds.
Last year alone, there were 51 motorcyclist deaths in BC, a 50 percent increase over the 2017 numbers.
In the last decade, 69 percent of fatalities involved men.
