Monthly overview of crash statistics May 2011

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 10 June 2011.

• Twenty-two people died on New Zealand roads in May. This is 16 fewer than the number of deaths for May 2010, 12 fewer than the average May road toll for the last five years, and the lowest May road toll on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.

• To the end of May this year 118 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 62 fewer than at the same time last year and the lowest first five months on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.
• In the 12 months to the end of May 2011, 313 people were killed on our roads. This is 65 fewer deaths than in the 12 months to the end of May 2010.
• During May, 8 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 6 were pedestrians, 5 were car or van passengers, 2 were cyclists and 1 was a truck driver.
• Twelve of the 22 killed were in open road crashes. Six were in head-on crashes, 5 were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road and 6 were in collisions with pedestrians.
• Of the 14 vehicle occupants killed, 3 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 May 2011. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of December 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	112	36	148	76%
	Injured	4237	3585	7822	54%
Passenger	Killed	48	35	83	58%
	Injured	1349	1659	3008	45%
Motorcyclists	Killed	38	1	39	97%
	Injured	1040	253	1293	80%
Pedestrians	Killed	17	14	31	55%
	Injured	522	445	967	54%
Cyclists	Killed	8	3	11	73%
	Injured	618	227	845	73%
Other	Killed	1	0	1	100%
	Injured	34	16	50	68%
Total	Killed	224	89	313	72%
	Injured	7800	6185	13985	56%

Road user type by age group - killed

Killed
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	1	11	0	0	1	0	13
15-24	42	38	8	4	1	0	93
25-34	20	11	4	4	2	0	41
35-44	13	7	15	3	1	0	39
45-54	21	4	7	4	2	0	38
55-64	20	1	4	3	1	0	29
65-74	16	6	1	5	1	0	29
75+	15	5	0	8	2	1	31
Unknown	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	148	83	39	31	11	1	313

Road user type by age group - injured

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	15	497	14	266	143	11	946
15-24	2394	1193	346	227	151	7	4318
25-34	1361	335	197	86	128	0	2107
35-44	1283	217	269	69	150	0	1988
45-54	1101	179	286	75	131	8	1780
55-64	772	150	125	65	69	6	1187
65-74	430	100	32	44	21	4	631
75+	374	92	6	55	5	13	545
Unknown	92	245	18	80	47	1	483
Total	7822	3008	1293	967	845	50	13985

Trends

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 50 percent while Police reported injuries have dropped by 16 percent, road deaths have dropped by 59 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	313
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	7.2

Note: Road deaths for 2011 are for the 12 months to the end of May 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	13985	-
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7570	7590	7319	-
Number hospitalised for over one day*	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2880	2690	2568	-
Number hospitalised for over three days*	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1880	1740	1582	-

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

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