Monthly overview of crash statistics November 2009

Download the monthly overview of crash statistics for November 2009 (PDF v7.0, 150KB)

The data presented here are provisional. Crash data as at – 10th December 2009

• Twenty people died on New Zealand roads in November. This is six fewer than the number of deaths for November 2008 and is 10 fewer than the average November toll for the last five years. This was the lowest November road toll since 1965. (Monthly records are not available prior to 1965).

• To the end of November this year 347 people have died on New Zealand roads. This is 31 more than at the same time last year.
• In the 12 months to the end of November 2009, 396 people were killed on our roads. This is 34 more than the number of deaths in the 12 months to the end of November 2008.
• During November, 13 of the deaths were car or van drivers, four were car or van passengers, two were motorcyclists and one was a pedestrian.
• Twelve of the 20 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 five were in head-on crashes.
• Of the 17 vehicle occupants killed, six 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 November 2009. Reported injuries are for the 12 months to the end of May 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	134	66	200	67
	Injured	4651	3730	8381	55
Passengers	Killed	56	46	102	55
	Injured	1452	1825	3277	44
Motorcyclists	Killed	46	4	50	92
	Injured	1155	241	1396	83
Pedestrians	Killed	24	9	33	73
	Injured	464	438	902	51
Cyclists	Killed	7	1	8	88
	Injured	615	223	838	73
Other	Killed	3	0	3	100
	Injured	32	16	48	67
Total	Killed	270	126	396	68
	Injured	8369	6473	14842	56

Road user type by age group

Killed
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	0	17	0	3	1	1	22
15-24	51	47	6	9	1	0	114
25-34	34	11	17	2	2	0	66
35-44	24	6	14	4	1	0	49
45-54	35	2	10	3	1	0	51
55-64	16	10	2	5	1	0	34
65-74	15	2	0	1	1	0	19
75+	23	7	1	6	0	2	39
Unknown	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
Total	200	102	50	33	8	3	396

Injured
Age group	Drivers	Passengers	Motorcyclists	Pedestrians	Cyclists	Other	Total
Under 15	13	563	32	207	134	8	957
15-24	2683	1342	427	190	173	10	4825
25-34	1529	356	245	92	117	3	2342
35-44	1375	221	288	84	153	4	2125
45-54	1149	169	260	72	117	1	1768
55-64	756	160	83	51	72	4	1126
65-74	387	95	28	57	20	5	592
75+	385	85	10	63	7	10	560
Unknown	104	286	23	86	45	3	547
Total	8381	3277	1396	902	838	48	14842

Trends


Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 50 percent while Police reported injuries have dropped by 11 percent, road deaths have dropped by 48 percent and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 51 percent.

Crash outcomes and road user behaviour

Road Crash Data	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Deaths
No of road deaths	462	455	405	461	435	405	393	421	365	396
Deaths per 10,000 vehicles	1.8	1.7	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.1	1.2
Deaths per 100,000 people	12.1	11.8	10.3	11.5	10.7	9.9	9.5	10.0	8.6	9.3
Injuries
Reported injuries	10962	12368	13918	14372	13890	14456	15174	16013	15174	14842
No. hospitalised (all discharges)	5990	6700	6530	6540	6580	7210	7680	7440	7550	7839
No. hospitalised for over 1 day*	2846	2880	2750	2720	2710	2860	3020	3060	2880	2824
No. hospitalised for over 3 days*	1815	1794	1740	1700	1700	1840	1900	1990	1880	1868
Behavioural measures	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Speed
Rural speed, % over 100 km/h	52%	47%	43%	39%	39%	36%	32%	29%	30%	29%
Rural speed, mean (km/h)	101.1	100.2	99.1	98	97.8	97.1	96.4	96.3	96.6	96.3
Rural speed, 85th percentile	111	109	107	105	105	104	103	103	103	103
Alcohol
No. of drivers killed with excess alcohol	58	55	60	70	69	58	54	65	59	-
Percent of drivers killed with excess alcohol	21%	21%	24%	27%	27%	25%	24%	27%	28%	-
Occupant restraints
Seat belts worn by adults, front	90%	92%	92%	92%	94%	95%	95%	95%	95%	95%
Seat belts worn by adults, rear	76%	70%	78%	81%	86%	86%	89%	87%	87%	-
Children restrained, 0-14 years	87%	89%	94%	96%	97%	94%	96%	94%	97%	97%
Child restraints used, 0-4 years	79%	82%	86%	86%	87%	89%	91%	91%	90%	-
Cycle helmets
Cycle helmets worn, weekday	93%	94%	89%	89%	92%	91%	94%	92%	92%	92%

*Includes only the first stay in hospital.

Note: Road deaths for 2009 are for the 12 months to the end of November 2009. Reported injuries for 2009 are for the 12 months to the end of May 2009.

Factors contributing to crashes - ranked by social cost*



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