Monthly Overview of Crash Statistics March 2009

Download the monthly overview of crash statistics for March 2009.

March road deaths (2009)

• Thirty-seven people died on New Zealand roads in March. This is five more than the number of deaths for March 2008 and is two more than the average March toll for the last five years.

• To the end of March this year 108 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is the same as at the same time last year.
• In the 12 months to the end of March 2009, 366 people were killed on our roads. This is 66 fewer than the number of deaths in the 12 months to the end of March 2008.
• During March, 14 of the deaths were car or van drivers, three were motorcyclists, nine were car or van passengers and three were pedestrians.
• Thirty-one of the 37 killed were in open road crashes. Sixteen were in head-on crashes, eleven were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road and three were in collisions with pedestrians.
• Of the 28 vehicle occupants killed, four 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 2009. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of September 2008.

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 investigations are completed, so there is a lag in the reporting of injury crashes.

Road user type by sex

		Male	Female	Total	% male
Drivers	Killed	111	57	168	66
	Injured	4868	3789	8657	56
Passengers	Killed	58	35	93	62
	Injured	1584	1888	3472	46
Motorcyclists	Killed	52	4	56	93
	Injured	1142	253	1395	82
Pedestrians	Killed	24	9	33	73
	Injured	514	433	947	54
Cyclists	Killed	7	4	11	64
	Injured	664	247	911	73
Other	Killed	3	2	5	60
	Injured	31	15	46	67
Total	Killed	255	111	366	70
	Injured	8803	6625	15428	57

Road user type by age group

Killed
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	1	15	1	7	1	0	25
15-24	48	39	12	7	2	0	108
25-34	26	12	12	4	2	0	56
35-44	19	2	9	3	1	0	34
45-54	24	1	14	1	1	0	41
55-64	14	12	4	5	3	0	38
65-74	13	3	3	2	1	0	22
75+	20	6	1	2	0	5	34
Unknown	3	3	0	2	0	0	8
Total	168	93	56	33	11	5	366

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	16	593	24	232	154	9	1028
15-24	2783	1453	423	205	169	9	5042
25-34	1607	367	256	96	136	2	2464
35-44	1480	252	265	91	176	1	2265
45-54	1186	178	263	78	133	0	1838
55-64	700	134	108	56	73	1	1072
65-75	381	94	19	50	22	7	573
75+	394	103	6	56	8	13	580
Unknown	110	298	31	83	40	4	566
Total	8657	3472	1395	947	911	46	15428

Trends
 

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 51% while Police reported injuries have dropped by 8%, road deaths have dropped by 52% and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 48%.

Crash outcomes and road user behaviour

Road crash data	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Deaths
No of road deaths	462	455	405	461	435	405	393	421	365	365
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles	1.8	1.7	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.1	1.1
Deaths per 100,000 people	12.1	11.8	10.3	11.5	10.7	9.9	9.9	10.0	8.6	8.6
Injuries
Reported injuries	10962	12368	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	16013	15351
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	5990	6700	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7263
Number hospitalised for over 1 day*	2846	2880	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2921
Number hospitalised for over 3 days*	1815	1794	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1877

Behavioural measures	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Speed
Rural speed, % over 100 km/h	52%	47%	43%	39%	39%	36%	32%	29%	30%
Rural speed, mean (km/h)	101.1	100.2	99.1	98	97.8	97.1	96.4	96.3	96.6
Rural speed, 85th percentile (km/h)	111	109	107	105	105	104	103	103	103
Alcohol
No 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%	95%
Seat belts worn by adults, rear	76%	70%	78%	81%	86%	86%	89%	87%	87%
Children restrained, 0 - 14 years	87%	89%	94%	96%	97%	94%	96%	94%	97%
Child restraints used, 0 - 4 years	79%	82%	86%	86%	87%	89%	91%	91%	90%
Cycle helmets
Cycle helmets worn, weekday	93%	94%	89%	89%	92%	91%	94%	92%	92%

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

Note: Road deaths for 2009 are for the 12 months to the end of March 2009. Reported injuries for 2008 are for the 12 months to the end of September 2008.


Notes:  Crash data for the 12 months to end of September2008

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.