Monthly overview of crash statistics April 2011

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 17 May 2011. 

• Twenty six people died on New Zealand roads in April. This is 16 fewer than the number of deaths for April 2010 and 10 fewer than the average April road toll for the last five years.

• To the end of April this year 96 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 46 fewer than at the same time last year and the lowest first four months on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.
• In the 12 months to the end of April 2011, 329 people were killed on our roads. This is 48 fewer deaths than in the 12 months to the end of April 2010.
• During April, 9 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 11 were car or van passengers, 5 were motorcyclists and 1 was a truck driver.
• Sixteen of the 26 killed were in open road crashes. Twelve were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road, 6 were in head-on crashes and 4 were in intersection collisions.
• Of the 21 vehicle occupants killed, 9 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 April 2011. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of November 2010.

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
Driver	Killed	115	42	157	73%
	Injured	4232	3563	7795	54%
Passenger	Killed	50	38	88	57%
	Injured	1361	1654	3015	45%
Motorcyclists	Killed	43	1	44	98%
	Injured	1045	252	1297	81%
Pedestrians	Killed	18	9	27	67%
	Injured	523	452	975	54%
Cyclists	Killed	7	4	11	64%
	Injured	617	230	847	73%
Other	Killed	2	0	2	100%
	Injured	32	16	48	67%
Total	Killed	235	94	329	71%
	Injured	7810	6167	13977	56%

Road user type by age group - killed

Killed
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	1	13	0	1	1	0	16
15-24	43	42	10	4	1	0	100
25-34	20	11	5	4	2	0	42
35-44	16	6	17	2	2	0	43
45-54	22	4	7	4	2	0	39
55-64	20	2	4	3	0	0	29
65-74	18	4	1	5	1	1	30
75+	17	6	0	4	2	1	30
Unknown	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	157	88	44	27	11	2	329

Road user type by age group - injured

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	11	480	16	270	138	10	925
15-24	2367	1209	344	227	146	8	4301
25-34	1364	343	197	83	132	0	2119
35-44	1293	220	270	66	151	0	2000
45-54	1106	181	290	76	140	9	1802
55-64	765	146	122	63	72	5	1173
65-74	417	98	31	46	20	6	618
75+	381	94	8	64	5	9	561
Unknown	91	244	19	80	43	1	478
Total	7795	3015	1297	975	847	48	13977

 

Trends

Since 1990 the number of vehicles has increased by 51 percent while Police reported injuries have dropped by 16 percent, road deaths have dropped by 57 percent and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 57 percent.

Crash outcomes and road user behaviour

Deaths

Road crash data	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Number of road deaths	405	461	435	405	393	421	366	385	375	329
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.2	1.0
Deaths per 100,000 people	10.3	11.5	10.7	9.9	9.5	10.0	8.6	8.9	8.6	7.5

Note: Road deaths for 2011 are for the 12 months to the end of April 2011.

Injuries

Road crash data	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Reported injuries	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	16013	15317	14625	13977	-
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7570	7590	7274	-
Number hospitalised for over one day*	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2880	2690	2559	-
Number hospitalised for over three days*	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1880	1740	1581	-

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

Note: Reported injuries for 2010 are for the 12 months to the end of November 2010.

Speed

Behavioural measures	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Rural speed, % over 100 km/h	43%	39%	39%	36%	32%	29%	30%	29%	29%	-
Rural speed, mean (km/h)	99.1	98	97.8	97.1	96.4	96.3	96.6	96.3	96.2	-
Rural speed, 85th percentile (km/h)	107	105	105	104	103	103	103	103	103	-

Alcohol

Behavioural measures	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Number of drivers killed with excess alcohol	60	70	69	58	54	65	59	66	68	-
Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol	24%	27%	27%	25%	24%	27%	28%	28%	30%	-

Occupant restraints

Behavioural measures	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Seat belts worn by adults, front	92%	92%	94%	95%	95%	95%	95%	95%	96%	-
Seat belts worn by adults, rear	78%	81%	86%	86%	89%	87%	87%	87%	88%	-
Children restrained, 0-14 years	94%	96%	97%	94%	96%	94%	97%	97%	97%	-
Child restraints used, 0-4 years	86%	86%	87%	89%	91%	91%	90%	91%	93%	-

Cycle helmets

Behavioural measure	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Cycle helmets worn, weekday	89%	89%	92%	91%	94%	92%	92%	92%	93%	-

 

Factors contributing to crashes - ranked by social cost*

Notes: Crash data for the 12 months to end of November 2010
Since there can be several contributing factors for a single crash the figures represented in this graph add to more than 100 percent.
 
*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.