Monthly overview of crash statistics January 2010

Download the monthly overview of crash statistics for January 2010 (PDF v7.0, 152kb)

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at – 8th February 2010

• Thirty-nine people died on New Zealand roads in January. This is six more than the number of deaths for January 2009 and is four more than the average January toll for the last five years.



• In the 12 months to the end of January 2010, 391 people were killed on our roads. This is 28 more than the number of deaths in the 12 months to the end of January 2009.

• During January, 16 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 11 were car or van passengers, seven were motorcyclists, one was a pedestrian, one was a cyclist, one was a bus passenger, one was a motorised skateboarder and one was a truck driver.

• Thirty-three of the 39 killed were in open road crashes. Eighteen were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road and 12 were in head-on crashes.

• Of the 29 vehicle occupants killed, 11 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 January 2010. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of July 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	132	63	195	68%
	Injured	4662	3683	8345	56%
Passengers	Killed	56	49	105	53%
	Injured	1503	1857	3360	45%
Motorcyclists	Killed	46	3	49	94%
	Injured	1153	258	1411	82%
Pedestrians	Killed	21	10	31	68%
	Injured	462	431	893	52%
Cyclists	Killed	7	2	9	78%
	Injured	607	210	817	74%
Other	Killed	2	0	2	100%
	Injured	35	15	50	70%
Total	Killed	264	127	391	68%
	Injured	8422	6454	14876	57%

Road user type by age group

Killled
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	0	15	0	3	1	0	19
15-24	47	49	7	6	2	0	111
25-34	32	9	14	1	2	0	58
35-44	22	8	15	5	1	1	52
45-54	32	4	10	3	1	0	50
55-64	20	7	3	6	1	0	37
65-74	17	5	0	1	1	0	24
75+	24	8	0	6	0	1	39
Unknown	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	195	105	49	31	9	2	391

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	13	594	34	207	133	8	989
15-24	2674	1384	435	213	176	10	4892
25-34	1487	354	252	84	116	4	2297
35-44	1403	219	277	83	140	3	2125
45-54	1129	178	266	67	117	1	1758
55-64	751	162	91	46	68	6	1124
65-74	400	96	27	49	19	4	595
75+	387	86	11	65	6	11	566
Unknown	101	287	18	79	42	3	530
Total	8345	3360	1411	893	817	50	14876

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 51 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	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Deaths
Number of road deaths	455	405	461	435	405	393	421	365	385	391
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles	1.7	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.2
Deaths per 100,000 people	11.8	10.3	11.5	10.7	9.9	9.5	10.0	8.6	8.9	9.1
Injuries
Reported injuries	12368	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	16013	15174	14876	-
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	6700	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7560	7908	-
Number hospitalised for over 1 day*	2880	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2880	2780	-
Number hospitalised for over 3 days*	1794	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1880	1820	-
Behavioural measures	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Speed
Rural speed, % over 100 km/h	47%	43%	39%	39%	36%	32%	29%	30%	29%	-
Rural speed, mean (km/h)	100.2	99.1	98	97.8	97.1	96.4	96.3	96.6	96.3	-
Rural speed, 85th percentile (km/h)	109	107	105	105	104	103	103	103	103	-
Alcohol
Number of drivers killed with excess alcohol	55	60	70	69	58	54	65	59	-	-
Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol	21%	24%	27%	27%	25%	24%	27%	28%	-	-
Occupant restraints
Seat belts worn by adults, front	92%	92%	92%	94%	95%	95%	95%	95%	95%	-
Seat belts worn by adults, rear	70%	78%	81%	86%	86%	89%	87%	87%	-	-
Children restrained, 0-14 years	89%	94%	96%	97%	94%	96%	94%	97%	97%	-
Child restraints, 0-4 years	82%	86%	86%	87%	89%	91%	91%	90%	-	-
Cycle helmets
Cycle helmets worn, weekday	94%	89%	89%	92%	91%	94%	92%	92%	92%	-

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

Note: Road deaths for 2010 are for the 12 months to the end of January 2010. Reported injuries for 2009 are for the 12 months to the end of July 2009.

Factors contributing to crashes - ranked by social cost*

 

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

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.