Monthly overview of crash statistics August 2011

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 8 September 2011.

• Twenty-eight people died on New Zealand roads in August. This is 7 more deaths than August 2010 and 1 more than the average August road toll for the last five years.

• To the end of August this year 188 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 66 fewer than at the same time last year and the lowest first eight months on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.
• In the 12 months to the end of August 2011, 309 people were killed on our roads. This is 61 fewer deaths than in the 12 months to the end of August 2010.
• During August, 15 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 4 were passengers, 4 were pedestrians, 3 were motorcyclists, 1 was a truck driver and 1 a truck passenger.
• Twenty-five of the 28 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, 8 were in head-on collisions and 4 were in collisions with pedestrians.
• Of the 21 vehicle occupants killed, 10 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 2011. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of March 2011.

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.

Trends

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 50 percent while Police reported injuries have dropped by 18 percent, road deaths have dropped by 59 percent and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 59 percent.

Crash outcomes and road user behaviour

Note: Road deaths for 2011 are for the 12 months to the end of August 2011.

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

Note: Reported injuries for 2010 are for the 12 months to the end of March 2011.

Factors contributing to crashes - ranked by social cost*

Notes: Crash data for the 12 months to end of March 2011.

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.