Monthly overview of crash statistics September 2011

Last updated on 1/03/2012 3:41 p.m. 

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 5 October 2011.

  • Twenty-one people died on New Zealand roads in September. This is 3 fewer deaths than September 2010, 8 fewer than the average September road toll for the last five years, and the lowest September road toll on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.

Graph showing number of road deaths in September from 1990 to 2011.

  • To the end of September this year 208 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 70 fewer than at the same time last year and the lowest first nine months on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.
  • In the 12 months to the end of September 2011, 305 people were killed on our roads. This is 52 fewer deaths than in the 12 months to the end of September 2010.
  • During September, 13 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 3 were passengers, 3 were pedestrians and 2 were motorcyclists.
  • Eighteen of the 21 killed were in open road crashes. Seven were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road, 5 were in head-on collisions and 3 were in collisions with pedestrians.
  • Of the 16 vehicle occupants killed, 7 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 September 2011. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of April 2011.

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 117 42 159 74%
Injured 4041 3504 7545 54%
Passenger Killed 39 30 69 57%
Injured 1325 1589 2914 45%
Motorcyclists Killed 32 1 33 97%
Injured 996 249 1245 80%
Pedestrians Killed 17 15 32 53%
Injured 527 443 970 54%
Cyclists Killed 9 3 12 75%
Injured 595 206 801 74%
Other Killed 0 0 0 -
Injured 32 17 49 65%
Total Killed 214 91 305 70%
Injured 7516 6008 13524 56%

Road user type by age group - killed
Killed
Age group Drivers Passengers Motorcyclists Pedestrians Cyclists Other Total
Under 15 1 9 0 1 1 0 12
15-24 48 34 4 6 1 0 93
25-34 20 5 2 2 2 0 31
35-44 17 4 16 4 1 0 42
45-54 22 5 6 5 2 0 40
55-64 19 2 3 4 2 0 30
65-74 16 3 1 5 1 0 26
75+ 16 7 1 5 2 0 31
Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 159 69 33 32 12 0 305

Road user type by age group - injured
Injured
Age group Drivers Passengers Motorcyclists Pedestrians Cyclists Other Total
Under 15 14 508 13 263 135 7 940
15-24 2295 1143 320 229 152 10 4149
25-34 1336 312 204 96 123 1 2072
35-44 1239 187 246 65 132 0 1869
45-54 1055 176 275 80 115 4 1705
55-64 739 149 125 56 81 4 1154
65-74 421 98 35 47 22 6 629
75+ 355 89 11 62 4 15 536
Unknown 91 252 16 72 37 2 470
Total 7545 2914 1245 970 801 49 13524


Graph showing deaths by age group in the 12 months to September 2011, and injuries to the 12 months to April 2011.
Graph showing types of road users killed in the 12 months to September 2011, and injured in the 12 months to September 2011.

Trends

Graph showing road crash casualties and vehicle fleet compared to 1990.

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 50 percent while Police reported injuries have dropped by 19 percent, road deaths have dropped by 60 percent and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 59 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 405 461 435 405 393 421 366 385 375 305
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles 1.5 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.2 0.9
Deaths per 100,000 people 10.3 11.5 10.7 9.9 9.5 10.0 8.6 8.9 8.6 7.0

Note: Road deaths for 2011 are for the 12 months to the end of September 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 14031 13524
Number hospitalised (all discharges) 6530 6540 6580 7210 7680 7440 7570 7590 7350 7225
Number hospitalised for over one day* 2750 2720 2710 2860 3020 3060 2880 2690 2570 2563
Number hospitalised for over three days* 1740 1700 1700 1840 1900 1990 1880 1740 1590 1561

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

Note: Reported injuries for 2011 are for the 12 months to the end of April 2011. Hospitalisations for 2011 are for the 12 months to the end of March 2011.

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% 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% 93%

Factors contributing to crashes - ranked by social cost*

Graph showing factors contributing to crashes ranked by social cost

Notes: Crash data for the 12 months to end of April 2011.

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.