Monthly overview of crash statistics February 2010

Download the monthly overview of crash statistics for February 2010 (PDF v7.0, 153kb)

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at 5 March 2010.

• Twenty-nine people died on New Zealand roads in February. This is seven fewer than the number of deaths for February 2009 and is six fewer than the average February toll for the last five years.

• To the end of February this year 67 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is two fewer than at the same time last year.
• In the 12 months to the end of February 2010, 383 people were killed on our roads. This is 25 more than the number of deaths in the 12 months to the end of February 2009.
• During February, 13 of the deaths were car or van drivers, seven were car or van passengers, five were motorcyclists, two were pedestrians and two were truck drivers.
• Seventeen of the 29 killed were in open road crashes. Fourteen were in single vehicle crashes in which a driver lost control of the vehicle or ran off the road and three were in head-on crashes.
• Of the 22 vehicle occupants killed, nine 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 February 2010. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of September 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	59	191	69
	Injured	4635	3704	8339	56
Passengers	Killed	59	48	107	55
	Injured	1578	1888	3466	46
Motorcyclists	Killed	43	3	46	93
	Injured	1148	254	1402	82
Pedestrians	Killed	18	10	28	64
	Injured	459	441	900	51
Cyclists	Killed	7	2	9	78
	Injured	625	204	829	75
Other	Killed	2	0	2	100
	Injured	29	20	49	59
Total	Killed	261	122	383	68
	Injured	8474	6511	14985	57

Road user type by age group

Killed
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	0	13	1	2	1	0	17
15-24	46	51	10	6	2	0	115
25-34	33	8	12	1	2	0	56
35-44	23	10	14	4	1	1	53
45-54	30	5	7	4	1	0	47
55-64	20	7	2	5	1	0	35
65-74	17	6	0	1	1	0	25
75+	21	7	0	5	0	1	34
Unknown	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	191	107	46	28	9	2	383

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	13	597	32	227	146	8	1023
15-24	2689	1426	432	213	166	9	4935
25-34	1461	377	247	86	123	5	2299
35-44	1392	219	271	71	136	3	2092
45-54	1130	198	272	63	126	1	1790
55-64	771	168	86	41	67	7	1140
65-74	396	102	31	55	17	3	604
75+	390	84	13	62	6	11	566
Unknown	97	295	18	82	42	2	536
Total	8339	3466	1402	900	829	49	14895

Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 51 percent while Police reported injuries have dropped by 10 percent, road deaths have dropped by 49 percent and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 50 percent.

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	383
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	8.9
Injuries
Reported injuries	12368	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	16013	15174	14985	-
Number hospitalised (all discharges)	6700	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7560	7922	-
Number hospitalised for over 1 day#	2880	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2880	2795	-
Number hospitalised for over 3 days#	1794	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1880	1807	-
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%	87%	-
Children restrained, 0-14 years	89%	94%	96%	97%	94%	96%	94%	97%	97%	-
Child restraints used, 0-4 years	82%	86%	86%	87%	89%	91%	91%	90%	91%	-
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 February 2010. Reported injuries for 2009 are for the 12 months to the end of September 2009.


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