Monthly overview of crash statistics - December 2012

Last updated on 8/01/2013 12:54 p.m. 

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 7th January 2013.

Thirty-nine people died on New Zealand roads in December. This is 6 more than December 2011 and the same as the average December road toll for the last five years.
Graph showing December deaths, comparing 1990 through to 2012

  • In the 12 months to the end of December 2012, 308 people died on our roads. This is 24 more deaths than in the 12 months to the end of December 2011.
  • During December, 14 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 12 were passengers, 6 were motorcyclists, 5 were pedestrians, 1 was a truck driver and 1 was a cyclist.
  • Thirty-four of the 39 deaths were in open road crashes. Sixteen were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road and 11 were in head-on collisions.
  • Of the 27 vehicle occupants who died, 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 December 2012. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of July 2012.

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 103 33 136 76
Injured 3637 3151 6788 54
Passengers Killed 48 33 81 59
Injured 1126 1370 2496 45
Motorcyclists Killed 42 3 45 93
Injured 913 208 1121 81
Pedestrians Killed 21 12 33 64
Injured 497 412 909 55
Cyclists Killed 8 0 8 100
Injured 562 204 766 73
Other Killed 3 2 5 60
Injured 34 13 47 72
Total Killed 225 83 308 73
Injured 6769 5358 12127 56
Road user type by age group - killed
Killed
Age group Drivers Passengers Motorcyclists Pedestrians Cyclists Other Total
Under 15 0 8 0 5 1 0 14
15-24 33 20 4 7 0 1 65
25-34 17 15 4 4 1 1 42
35-44 19 11 16 2 1 1 50
45-54 15 8 10 0 1 1 35
55-64 16 7 6 2 0 0 31
65-74 16 3 4 4 3 0 30
75+ 20 9 1 9 1 1 41
Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 136 81 45 33 8 5 308
Road user type by age group - injured
Injured
Age group Drivers Passengers Motorcyclists Pedestrians Cyclists Other Total
Under 15 8 450 4 248 96 13 819
15-24 1902 902 299 203 152 14 3472
25-34 1290 308 214 90 108 0 2010
35-44 1081 189 188 65 133 0 1656
45-54 988 171 232 64 133 1 1589
55-64 699 114 130 62 72 3 1080
65-74 363 89 29 61 30 3 575
75+ 369 81 9 60 11 8 538
Unknown 88 192 16 56 31 5 388
Total 6788 2496 1121 909 766 47 12127
Graph showing deaths in the 12 months to December 2012 by age group and reported injuries in the 12 months to July 2012 by age group
Graph showing types of road users killed in the 12 months to December 2012 and injured in the 12 months to July 2012

Trends

Graph showing road crash casualties and vehicle fleet comparing 1990 to 2012

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 53% while Police reported injuries have dropped by 27%, road deaths have dropped by 59% and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 59%.

Crash outcomes and road user behaviour

Deaths
Road crash data 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Number of road deaths 461 435 405 393 421 366 384 375 284 308
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.2 0.88 0.95
Deaths per 100,000 people 11.5 10.7 9.9 9.5 10.0 8.6 8.9 8.6 6.4 6.9

Note: Road deaths for 2012 are for the 12 months to the end of December 2012.

Injuries
Road crash data 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Reported injuries 14372 13890 14456 15174 16013 15317 14625 14031 12574 12127
Number hospitalised (all discharges) 6540 6580 7210 7680 7440 7570 7590 7360 6780 6926
Number hospitalised for over one day* 2720 2710 2860 3020 3060 2880 2690 2580 2420 2411
Number hospitalised for over three days* 1700 1700 1840 1900 1990 1880 1740 1590 1520 1483

*Includes only the first stay in hospital.

Note: Reported injuries for 2012 are for the 12 months to the end of July 2012. Hospitalisations for 2012 are for the 12 months to the end of July 2012.

Speed
Behavioural measures 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Rural speed, % over 100 km/h 39% 39% 36% 32% 29% 30% 29% 29% 31% -
Rural speed, mean (km/h) 98 97.8 97.1 96.4 96.3 96.6 96.3 96.2 96.5 -
Rural speed, 85th percentile (km/h) 105 105 104 103 103 103 103 103 103 -
Alcohol
Behavioural measures 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Number of drivers killed with excess alcohol 70 69 58 54 65 59 66 68 48 -
Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol 27% 27% 25% 24% 27% 28% 28% 30% 26% -
Occupant restraints
Behavioural measures 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Seat belts worn by adults, front 92% 94% 95% 95% 95% 95% 95% 96% 96% 96%
Seat belts worn by adults, rear 81% 86% 86% 89% 87% 87% 87% 88% 90% n/a
Children restrained, 0-14 years 96% 97% 94% 96% 94% 97% 97% 97% n/a n/a
Child restraints used, 0-4 years 86% 87% 89% 91% 91% 90% 91% 93% n/a 92%
Cycle helmets
Behavioural measure 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Cycle helmets worn, weekday 89% 92% 91% 94% 92% 92% 92% 93% 93% 92%

Factors contributing to crashes - ranked by social cost*

Graph showing factors contributing to crashes ranked by social cost on open and urban roads
Notes: Crash data for the 12 months to the end of July 2012

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.

Download the full document

December 2012 monthly road crash statistics (PDF, 101 kb)
Related: Crashes, Motorists, Land