Monthly overview of crash statistics August 2009

Download the monthly overview report of crash statistics for August 2009 (PDF v7.0, v7.0, 151kb)

August Road Deaths (2009)

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 10 September 2009

• Twenty-seven people died on New Zealand roads in August. This is four more than the number of deaths for August 2008 and is four fewer than the average August toll for the last five years.

• To the end of August this year 271 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 31 more than at the same time last year.
• In the 12 months to the end of August 2009, 396 people were killed on our roads. This is five more than the number of deaths in the 12 months to the end of August 2008.
• During August, 17 of the deaths were car or van drivers, five were car or van passengers, two were motorcyclists, one was a truck driver, one was a pedestrian and one was a cyclist.
• Twenty-three of the 27 killed were in open road crashes. Eleven were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road and nine were in head-on crashes.
• Of the 23 vehicle occupants killed, seven 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 August 2009. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of February 2009.

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	128	66	194	66
	Injured	4733	3674	8407	56
Passengers	Killed	60	44	104	58
	Injured	1468	1801	3269	45
Motorcyclists	Killed	49	4	53	92
	Injured	1125	249	1374	82
Pedestrians	Killed	26	6	32	81
	Injured	487	426	913	53
Cyclists	Killed	6	3	9	67
	Injured	642	239	881	73
Other	Killed	3	1	4	75
	Injured	29	12	41	71
Total	Killed	272	124	396	69
	Injured	8484	6401	14885	57

Road user type by age group

Killed
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	1	15	0	5	1	1	23
15-24	44	49	7	10	2	0	112
25-34	35	14	16	2	3	0	70
35-44	23	7	10	2	1	0	43
45-54	32	1	13	3	0	0	49
55-64	20	10	4	6	1	0	41
65-74	16	2	2	1	1	0	22
75+	21	6	1	3	0	3	34
Unknown	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
Total	194	104	53	32	9	4	396

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	15	570	36	219	146	8	994
15-24	2709	1362	416	185	180	6	4858
25-34	1496	352	239	94	118	3	2302
35-44	1398	219	282	85	168	2	2154
45-54	1159	159	263	74	115	1	1771
55-64	741	151	83	47	78	4	1104
65-74	408	87	23	58	21	4	601
75+	375	89	8	61	7	11	551
Unknown	106	280	24	90	48	2	550
Total	8407	3269	1374	913	881	41	14885

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 49 percent while Police reported injuries have dropped by 11 percent, road deaths have dropped by 48 percent and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 51 percent.

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	396
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles	1.8	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	9.3
Injuries
Reported injuries	10962	12368	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	16013	15174	14885
No hospitalised (all discharges)	5990	6700	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7490	7492
No hospitalised for over 1 day*	2846	2880	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2880	2793
No hospitalised for over 3 days*	1815	1794	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1880	1827
Behavioural measures	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Speed
Rural speed, % over 100 km/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	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	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	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	92

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

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


Notes:  Crash data for the 12 months to end of February 2009

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.