Monthly overview of crash statistics April 2008

Monthly Road Crash Stats Update

April Road Deaths (2008)

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at - 7th May 2008.

Twenty-seven people died on New Zealand roads in April. This is 11 fewer than the number of deaths for April 2007 and is nine fewer than the average April toll for the last five years.

To the end of April this year 137 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is two more than at the same time last year.
In the 12 months to the end of April 2008, 425 people were killed on our roads. This is 22 more than the 12 month toll at the end of April 2007.
During April, 15 of the deaths were car or van drivers, six were car or van passengers, two were motorcyclists, two were pedestrians and two were on mobility scooters.
Eighteen of the 27 killed were in open road crashes. Ten were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road, seven were in head on crashes and five were in intersection collisions.
Of the 21 vehicle occupants killed, only one was not restrained at the time of the crash.

Deaths and Police reported injuries by age, sex and type of road user

Deaths are for the 12 months to the end of April 2008. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of October 2007.

Note: Preliminary fatal crash reports are submitted within 24 hours of a crash related death. Full injury crash reports are submitted only after the crash investigation is completed, so there is a lag in the reporting of injury crashes.

Road user type by sex

		Male	Female	Total	% Male
Drivers	Killed	136	58	194	70%
	Injured	5097	3876	8973	57%
Pass-engers	Killed	66	65	131	50%
	Injured	1713	2002	3715	46%
Motor-cyclists	Killed	34	5	39	87%
	Injured	1055	224	1279	82%
Pede-strians	Killed	29	16	45	64%
	Injured	464	409	873	53%
Cyclists	Killed	7	1	8	88%
	Injured	624	220	844	74%
Other	Killed	7	1	8	88%
	Injured	26	8	34	76%
Total	Killed	279	146	425	66%
	Injured	8979	6739	15718	57%

Road user type by age group

Deaths
Age group	Drivers	Pass- engers	Motor- cyclists	Pede- strians	Cyc- lists	Other	Total
Under-15	0	20	1	7	1	1	30
15-24	55	54	8	12	2	1	132
25-34	36	14	8	1	0	0	59
35-44	32	10	14	6	0	0	62
45-54	34	9	5	1	1	1	51
55-64	10	11	1	4	1	0	27
65-74	8	5	2	5	3	0	23
75+	18	8	0	9	0	5	40
Unknown	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	194	131	39	45	8	8	425

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Pass- engers	Motor- cyclists	Pede- strians	Cyc- lists	Other	Total
Under-15	16	560	25	211	160	5	977
15-24	2958	1462	408	189	146	4	5167
25-34	1720	391	226	96	143	1	2577
35-44	1468	287	234	74	147	3	2213
45-54	1164	225	238	51	125	2	1805
55-64	767	168	92	56	55	0	1138
65-74	403	137	29	51	19	2	641
75+	362	101	5	72	8	16	564
Unknown	115	384	22	73	41	1	636
Total	8973	3715	1279	873	844	34	15718

Trends

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 51% while Police reported injuries have dropped by 6%, road deaths have dropped by 44% and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 45%.

Crash outcomes and road user behaviour

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Road Crash Data
Deaths
Number of road deaths	462	455	405	461	435	405	393	423	425
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles	1.8	1.7	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3
Deaths per 100,000 people	12.1	11.8	10.3	11.5	10.7	9.9	9.5	10.0	10.1
Injuries
Reported injuries	10962	12368	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	15718
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	5990	6700	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7518
Number hospitalised for over 1 day #	2846	2880	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3053
Number hospitalised for over 3 days #	1815	1794	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1991

Behavioural Measures
Speed
Rural speed, % over 100 km/h	52%	47%	43%	39%	39%	36%	32%	29%
Rural speed, mean (km/h)	101.1	100.2	99.1	98	97.8	97.1	96.4	96.3
Rural speed, 85th percentile (km/h)	111	109	107	105	105	104	103	103
Alcohol
Number of drivers killed with excess alcohol	58	55	60	70	69	58	54	65
Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol	21%	21%	24%	27%	27%	25%	24%	27%
Occupant Restraints
Seat belts worn by adults, front	90%	92%	92%	92%	94%	95%	95%	95%
Seat belts worn by adults, rear