High risk drivers statistics

The Ministry has compiled a report showing the impact of high risk drivers.

Definition of high-risk drivers

For the purposes of this report high-risk drivers include:

• unlicensed and disqualified drivers (including drivers who are forbidden to drive or who have an expired licence or the wrong licence class for the vehicle being driven)
• drivers identified as evading enforcement or racing or showing off at the time of the crash
• drivers with a blood alcohol level of at least 50 percent over the adult legal limit (ie 120 mg/100 ml)
• repeat alcohol offenders, specifically drivers in alcohol-related crashes who have at least one prior alcohol conviction (includes full offence histories for drivers whose most recent conviction occurred since 2000)
• repeat speed offenders, specifically drivers in speed-related crashes who have at least two prior speeding offences, with at least one involving 35 or more demerit points (excludes offences prior to July 2000 and all speed camera offences)

These categories of high-risk driver are based on those set out in Safer Journeys. The categories in this report also include evading enforcement as a high risk behaviour. However, the detailed criteria used here are based on the data sources which are readily available to the Ministry, and the definitions have not been widely discussed.

Speed camera offences do not attract demerit points so are not recorded on the driver licence register. With speed camera offences excluded from the definition of repeat speed offenders the role of speed in the high-risk driver group will be understated.

Definition of at-fault

At-fault drivers are defined in the crash analysis system (CAS) as the driver deemed to have the primary responsibility for a crash. This is based on the crash movements and cause factors assigned in CAS. It is not based on legal liability or court conviction.

Fatal crashes for the five years 2005–2009

• High-risk drivers make up 35 percent of all at-fault drivers in fatal crashes.
• Most high-risk drivers are male (83 percent) and young, with 52 percent under 30 years old.
• The majority of people killed in high-risk driver crashes are the high-risk drivers themselves (59 percent of deaths) or passengers with high-risk drivers (28 percent). On average, each year 17 other road users are killed by high-risk drivers. Five of those deaths are on urban roads.
• About half (49 percent) the high-risk drivers are European and a further 42 percent are Māori. Māori are over represented in this group. However, to some degree this reflects the younger age profile for Māori. While not discussed in the report, under 25 year olds comprise 38 percent of Māori at-fault drivers compared to 28 percent for European drivers.
• High-risk drivers make up 61 percent of at-fault drivers crashing at night (10pm–6am). For high-risk drivers 45 percent of their crashes happen at night, compared to only 15 percent for other at-fault drivers.
• High-risk driver crashes peak markedly at the weekend, with 31 percent happening on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights alone.
• For both high-risk and other at-fault drivers about three-quarters of their crashes happen on the open road. However, for high-risk drivers a larger proportion of their open road crashes are on locally-controlled roads. These will tend to be lower quality roads and roadsides, and may present more of an enforcement issue than State highways which typically have higher traffic volumes.
• There are regional variations, with high-risk driver crashes making up a larger proportion of fatal crashes in the North Island than in the South Island. This proportion is particularly high in Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty. The largest overall numbers of high-risk driver crashes are in the more populated regions such as Auckland and Waikato.
• Speed and alcohol are major contributors. Of the high-risk drivers, 59 percent have alcohol factors, 34 percent have licence factors and 26 percent have speed offences. However, there is some overlap between the risk categories, with 11 percent having both alcohol and licence factors and 7 percent having both speed and alcohol factors.
• Many of the young high-risk drivers (51 percent of 15 to 19 year olds) have licence-related factors such as being disqualified or unlicensed.

Fatal and serious injury crashes for the five years 2005–2009

High-risk drivers make up 25 percent of all at-fault drivers in fatal and serious injury crashes combined. There are similar differences between high-risk and other at-fault drivers in the fatal and serious injury crashes combined, as noted above for fatal crashes. Generally injury crashes are more likely than fatal crashes to be urban and in the day time.

Young drivers

When other at-fault young drivers are added to high-risk drivers, together they comprise 53 percent of at-fault drivers in fatal crashes and 48 percent of at-fault drivers in fatal and serious injury crashes.