Monthly Overview of Crash Statistics February 2009

Download the monthly overview of crash statistics for February 2009.

February Road Deaths (2009)

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at – 11th March 2009.

• Thirty-six people died on New Zealand roads in February. This is five fewer than the number of deaths for February 2008 and is one more than the average February toll for the last five years.

• To the end of February this year 70 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 6 fewer than at the same time last year.

• In the 12 months to the end of February 2009, 359 people were killed on our roads. This is 80 fewer than the number of deaths in the 12 months to the end of February 2008.

• During February, 18 of the deaths were car or van drivers, eight were motorcyclists, five were car or van passengers and five were pedestrians.

• Twenty-nine of the 36 killed were in open road crashes. Fourteen 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 five were in collisions with pedestrians.

• Of the 23 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 February 2009. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of August 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	116	51	167	69
	Injured	4902	3810	8712	56
Passengers	Killed	56	38	94	60
	Injured	1580	1898	3478	45
Motorcyclists	Killed	53	3	56	95
	Injured	1130	254	1384	82
Pedestrians	Killed	21	9	30	70
	Injured	516	424	940	55
Cyclists	Killed	5	3	8	63
	Injured	663	257	920	72
Other	Killed	2	2	4	50
	Injured	31	14	45	69
Total	Killed	253	106	359	70
	Injured	8822	6657	15479	57

Road user type by age group

Killed
Age  Group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under  15	1	14	1	6	0	0	22
15-24	51	40	11	6	2	0	110
25-34	30	14	13	4	1	0	62
35-44	21	3	9	3	0	0	36
45-54	23	2	14	0	1	0	40
55-64	13	12	4	5	3	0	37
65-74	9	3	3	2	1	0	18
75+	17	6	1	3	0	4	31
Unknown	2	0	0	1	0	0	3
Total	167	94	56	30	8	4	359

Injured
Age Group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	17	589	24	232	152	8	1022
15-24	2809	1446	413	209	167	9	5053
25-34	1633	373	247	97	140	2	2492
35-44	1488	251	262	89	172	1	2263
45-54	1183	183	272	75	140	0	1853
55-64	700	134	111	49	71	1	1066
65-74	384	93	19	50	26	6	578
75+	388	104	7	51	9	14	573
Unknown	110	305	29	88	43	4	579
Total	8712	3478	1384	940	920	45	15479

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	359
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	9.5	10.0	8.6	8.4
Injuries
Reported injuries	10962	12368	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	16013	15479
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	5990	6700	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7256
Number hospitalised for over 1 day*	2846	2880	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2967
Number hospitalised for over 3 days*	1815	1794	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1902

Behavioural  Measures	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Speed
Rural speed, % over 100km/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
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%	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%	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%	91%	92%	92%

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

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

Factors contributing to crashes - ranked by social cost*


Notes: Crash data for the 12 months to end of August 2008

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.