Monthly overview of crash statistics July 2011

Last updated on 1/03/2012 3:03 p.m. 

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 30 July 2011.

Twenty-one people died on New Zealand roads in July. This is 13 fewer deaths than July 2010 and 9 fewer than the average July road toll for the last five years.Graph showing number of deaths in the month of July from 1990 to 2011.

  • To the end of July this year 160 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 73 fewer than at the same time last year and the lowest first seven months on record. Monthly records begin in 1965.
  • In the 12 months to the end of July 2011, 302 people were killed on our roads. This is 73 fewer deaths than in the 12 months to the end of July 2010.
  • During July, 12 of the deaths were car or van drivers, 6 were passengers, 2 were motorcyclists and 1 was a pedestrian.
  • Thirteen of the 21 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 4 were in head-on collisions.
  • Of the 18 vehicle occupants killed, 7 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 July 2011. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of February 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.

Road user type by sex
Male Female Total % male
Driver Killed 111 36 147 76%
Injured 4131 3555 7686 54%
Passenger Killed 41 33 74 55%
Injured 1330 1593 2923 46%
Motorcyclists Killed 35 1 36 97%
Injured 1000 236 1236 81%
Pedestrians Killed 16 17 33 48%
Injured 533 452 985 54%
Cyclists Killed 9 3 12 75%
Injured 607 214 821 74%
Other Killed 0 0 0 - 
Injured 35 18 53 66%
Total Killed 212 90 302 70%
Injured 7636 6068 13704 56%

Road user type by age group - killed
Killed
Age group Drivers Passengers Motorcyclists Pedestrians Cyclists Other Total
Under 15 1 10 0 1 1 0 13
15-24 44 38 5 4 1 0 92
25-34 19 4 4 3 2 0 32
35-44 15 6 16 3 1 0 41
45-54 22 4 6 4 2 0 38
55-64 20 2 3 5 2 0 32
65-74 13 5 1 6 1 0 26
75+ 13 5 1 6 2 0 27
Unknown 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Total 147 74 36 33 12 0 302

Road user type by age group - injured
Injured
Age group Drivers Passengers Motorcyclists Pedestrians Cyclists Other Total
Under 15 15 503 13 266 139 10 946
15-24 2322 1139 329 229 154 9 4182
25-34 1344 323 204 103 127 1 2102
35-44 1255 194 249 67 139 0 1904
45-54 1102 184 267 73 121 7 1754
55-64 751 144 122 62 74 6 1159
65-74 435 96 30 47 21 3 632
75+ 374 89 9 58 5 16 551
Unknown 88 251 13 80 41 1 474
Total 7686 2923 1236 985 821 53 13704


Graph showing deaths by age group in the 12 months to July 2011, and reported injuries in the 12 months to February 2011.
Graph showing types of road users killed in the 12 months to July 2011, and injuries in the 12 months to February 2011.

Trends

Graph showing road crash casualties and the vehicle fleet compared to 1990.

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 60 percent and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 58 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 405 461 435 405 393 421 366 385 375 302
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles 1.5 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.2 0.9
Deaths per 100,000 people 10.3 11.5 10.7 9.9 9.5 10.0 8.6 8.9 8.6 6.9

Note: Road deaths for 2011 are for the 12 months to the end of July 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 14031 13704
Number hospitalised (all discharges) 6530 6540 6580 7210 7680 7440 7570 7590 7350 7258
Number hospitalised for over one day* 2750 2720 2710 2860 3020 3060 2880 2690 2570 2549
Number hospitalised for over three days* 1740 1700 1700 1840 1900 1990 1880 1740 1590 1562

*Includes only the first stay in hospital

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

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 68 -
Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol 24% 27% 27% 25% 24% 27% 28% 28% 30% -

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% 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% 93%

Factors contributing to crashes - ranked by social cost*

Graph showing factors contributing to crashes ranked by social cost.

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