Monthly overview of crash statistics April 2009

Last updated on 9/06/2009 10:18 a.m. 

Download the monthly overview report of crash statistics for April 2009.

April Road Deaths (2009)

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at – 12th May 2009.

  • Forty-five people died on New Zealand roads in April. This is 17 more than the number of deaths for April 2008 and is 10 more than the average April toll for the last five years.

 

  • To the end of April this year 152 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 16 more than at the same time last year.
  • In the 12 months to the end of April 2009, 382 people were killed on our roads. This is 40 fewer than the number of deaths in the 12 months to the end of April 2008.
  • During April, 21 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 15 were car or van passengers, five were motorcyclists, three were pedestrians and one was a truck driver.
  • Twenty-eight of the 45 killed were in open road crashes. Seventeen were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road, 12 were in head-on crashes and nine were in intersection collisions.
  • Of the 37 vehicle occupants killed, 14 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 2009. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of October 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   119  56   175   68 
   Injured  4829  3753   8582   56 
 Passengers  Killed  59  43  102  58
   Injured  1554  1882  3436  45
 Motorcyclists  Killed  54  5  59  92
   Injured  1120  257  1377  81
 Pedestrians  Killed  23  10  33  70
 Injured  527  437  964  55
 Cyclists  Killed  6  4  10  60
 Injured  658  256  914  72
 Other  Killed  1  2  3  33
 Injured  32  14  46  70
 Total  Killed  262  120  382  69
 Injured  8720  6599  15319  57

Road user type by age group
 Killed                
 Age group  Drivers   Passengers   Motorcyclists   Pedestrians   Cyclists   Other   Total 
 Under 15  1  15  1  6  1  0  24
 15-24  49  44  12  7  2  0  114
 25-34  27  12  13  4  1  0  57
 35-44  20  3  11  3  1  0  38
 45-54  27  2  14  1  1  0  45
 55-64  14  13  4  5  3  0  39
 65-74  15  3  3  2  1  0  24
 75+  19  7  1  3  0  3  33
 Unknown  3  3  0  2  0  0  8
 Total  175  102  59  33  10  3  382

 Injured                      
 Age group  Drivers   Passengers   Motorcyclists   Pedestrians   Cyclists   Other   Total 
 Under 15  20  596  27  228  155  9  1035
 15-24  2783  1444  420  210  176  9  5042
 25-34  1557  365  257  94  132  3  2408
 35-44  1445  247  274  94  174  1  2235
 45-54  1191  169  250  80  136  0  1826
 55-64  702  135  99  57  72  3  1068
 65-74  393  100  17  52  21  7  590
 75+  384  99  8  60  8  11  570
 Unknown 107  281  25  89  40  3  545
 Total  8582  3436  1377  964  914  46  15319





Trends



Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 50% while Police reported injuries have dropped by 8%, road deaths have dropped by 50% and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 48%.

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  366  382
 Deaths per 10,000 vehicles  108  1.7  1.5  1.6  1.5  1.3  1.3  1.3  1.1  1.2
 Deaths per 100,000 people  12.1  11.8  10.3  11.5  10.7  9.9  9.5  10.0  8.6  8.9
Injuries                    
 Reported injuries  10962  12368  13918  14372  13890  14456  15174  16013  15319

 -
 No hospitalised (all discharges)  5990  6700  6530  6540  6580  7210  7680  7440  7263

 -
 No hospitalised for over 1 day*  2846  2880  2750  2720  2710  2860  3020  3060  2898

 -
 No hospitalised for over 3 days*  1815  1794  1740  1700  1700  1840  1900  1990  1869

 -

 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                    
 No of drivers killed with excess alcohol  58  55  60  70  69  58  54  65  59

 -
 Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol  21  21  24  27  27  25  24  27  28

 -
 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  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  94  92  92

-

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

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



Notes:  Crash data for the 12 months to end of October2008
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.