Monthly overview of crash statistics March 2011

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 7 April 2011.

• Twenty-five people died on New Zealand roads in March. This is 7 fewer than the number of deaths for March 2010, 9 fewer than the average March road toll for the last five years, and the lowest March road toll on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.

• To the end of March this year 70 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 30 fewer than at the same time last year and the lowest first quarter on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.
• In the 12 months to the end of March 2011, 345 people were killed on our roads. This is 35 fewer deaths than in the 12 months to the end of March 2010.
• During March, 13 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 5 were motorcyclists, 3 were car or van passengers, 2 were truck drivers, 1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist.
• Fifteen of the 25 killed were in open road crashes. Ten were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road and 8 were in head-on crashes.
• Of the 18 vehicle occupants killed, 6 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 March 2011. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of October 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	123	47	170	72%
	Injured	4260	3563	7823	54%
Passenger	Killed	51	36	87	59%
	Injured	1379	1660	3039	45%
Motorcyclists	Killed	43	1	44	98%
	Injured	1063	252	1315	81%
Pedestrians	Killed	20	10	30	67%
	Injured	539	460	999	54%
Cyclists	Killed	7	5	12	58%
	Injured	605	220	825	73%
Other	Killed	2	0	2	100%
	Injured	35	13	48	73%
Total	Killed	246	99	345	71%
	Injured	7881	6168	14049	56%

Road user type by age group - killed

Killed
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	1	13	0	1	1	0	16
15-24	47	43	10	5	1	0	106
25-34	20	10	5	4	2	0	41
35-44	15	6	19	2	2	0	44
45-54	25	4	5	4	3	0	41
55-64	23	3	4	3	0	0	33
65-74	21	4	1	5	1	1	33
75+	18	4	0	6	2	1	31
Unknown	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	170	87	44	30	12	2	345

Road user type by age group - injured

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	11	487	18	272	138	12	938
15-24	2387	1223	352	233	135	8	4338
25-34	1363	340	192	87	131	0	2113
35-44	1294	220	276	70	151	0	2011
45-54	1134	183	296	72	133	8	1826
55-64	750	147	129	64	72	5	1167
65-74	416	102	28	44	15	6	611
75+	381	89	6	74	9	7	566
Unknown	87	248	18	83	41	2	479
Total	7823	3039	1315	999	825	48	14049

Trends

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 51 percent while Police reported injuries have dropped by 16 percent, road deaths have dropped by 54 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	345
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.2	1.1
Deaths per 100,000 people	10.3	11.5	10.7	9.9	9.5	10.0	8.6	8.9	8.6	7.9

Note: Road deaths for 2011 are for the 12 months to the end of March 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	14049	-
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7570	7590	7248	-
Number hospitalised for over one day*	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2880	2690	2532	-
Number hospitalised for over three days*	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1880	1740	1561	-

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

Note: Reported injuries for 2010 are for the 12 months to the end of October 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	-	-
Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol	24%	27%	27%	25%	24%	27%	28%	28%	-	-

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 October 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.