monthly overview of crash statistics march 2008

March Road Deaths (2008)

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

Thirty-four people died on New Zealand roads in March. This is five fewer than the number of deaths for March 2007 and is four fewer than the average March toll for the last five years.

To the end of March this year 110 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 13 more than at the same time last year.
In the 12 months to the end of March 2008, 436 people were killed on our roads. This is 44 more than the 12 month toll at the end of March 2007.
During March, 16 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 13 were car or van passengers, three were motorcyclists and two were truck drivers.
Twenty-eight of the 34 killed were in open road crashes. Sixteen were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road and 12 were in head on crashes.
Of the 31 vehicle occupants killed, at least 10 were 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 March 2008. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of September 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	141	56	197	72%
	Injured	5121	3871	8992	57%
Pass-engers	Killed	65	67	132	49%
	Injured	1743	2062	3805	46%
Motor-cyclists	Killed	38	6	44	86%
	Injured	1020	222	1242	82%
Pede-strians	Killed	32	15	47	68%
	Injured	478	424	902	53%
Cyclists	Killed	8	1	9	89%
	Injured	625	216	841	74%
Other	Killed	6	1	7	86%
	Injured	26	8	34	76%
Total	Killed	290	146	436	67%
	Injured	9013	6803	15816	57%

Road user type by age group

Deaths
Age group	Drivers	Pass- engers	Motor- cyclists	Pede- strians	Cyc- lists	Other	Total
Under-15	0	18	1	7	1	1	28
15-24	53	53	8	13	2	2	131
25-34	39	16	8	1	1	0	65
35-44	35	12	17	5	0	0	69
45-54	35	9	6	3	1	0	54
55-64	9	11	2	3	1	1	27
65-74	9	5	2	6	3	0	25
75+	16	8	0	9	0	3	36
Unknown	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	197	132	44	47	9	7	436

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Pass- engers	Motor- cyclists	Pede- strians	Cyc- lists	Other	Total
Under-15	20	586	24	219	164	5	1018
15-24	2986	1487	404	192	147	4	5220
25-34	1709	392	220	94	138	1	2554
35-44	1469	300	237	75	146	3	2230
45-54	1168	231	224	53	123	2	1801
55-64	765	174	81	60	53	0	1133
65-74	404	146	26	49	18	2	645
75+	352	109	5	75	8	17	566
Unknown	119	380	21	85	44	0	649
Total	8992	3805	1242	902	841	34	15816

Trends

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 51% while Police reported injuries have dropped by 5%, road deaths have dropped by 42% 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	436
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles	1.8	1.7	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.4
Deaths per 100,000 people	12.1	11.8	10.3	11.5	10.7	9.9	9.5	10.0	10.3
Injuries
Reported injuries	10962	12368	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	15816
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	5990	6700	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7627
Number hospitalised for over 1 day #	2846	2880	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3088
Number hospitalised for over 3 days #	1815	1794	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	2020

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
Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol	21%	21%	24%	27%	27%	25%	24%
Occupant Restraints
Seat belts worn by adults, front	90%	92%	92%	92%	94%	95%	95%	95%
Seat belts worn by adults, rear	76%	70%	78%	81%	86%	86%	89%	87%
Children restrained, 0-14 years	87%	89%	94%	96%	97%	94%	96%	94%
Child restraints used, 0-4 years	79%	82%	86%	86%	87%	89%	91%	91%
Cycle helmets
Cycle helmets worn, weekday	93%	94%	89%	89%	92%	91%	94%	92%

# Includes only the first stay in hospital

Note: Road deaths for 2008 are for the 12 months to the end of March 2008. Reported injuries for 2007 are for the 12 months to the end of September 2007.

Factors contributing to crashes – ranked by social cost*

Notes: Crash data for the 12 months to end of September 2007.

Since there can be several contributing factors for a single crash the figures represented in this graph add to more than 100%.

* Social cost calculations include loss of life or life quality, loss of output due to injuries, medical and rehabilitation costs, legal and court costs and property damage.