Every Australian road death since 1989 - some visuals and stats

Rusjel

Premier Member
#1
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-25/every-road-death-in-australia-since-1989/9353794

Thought this was worth posting here and the presentation of the stats is quite interesting.

There's some obvious ones, like motorcyclists having high death rates on weekend afternoons.

Then there's the interesting things you glean from 'second order' stats, like the way younger people are over represented in late night early morning deaths. These are the people we are possibly,sharing the road with at critical times on our rides.

Once again I am reminded that the accident and death rates for motorists have been steadily decreasing during this period. It puts the lie to the 'shock horror road carnage' scam employed so effectively and profitably by our rulers.

Anyway, have a browse, there are many interesting lines of research you can go down.
 

Hampe

Not Right Rider
Staff member
Premier Member
IBA Member
#3
Must say I love the bit on "crashes are so predictable that it is wrong to use the word accidents".
 

Skidoo

Premier Member
#5
Must say I love the bit on "crashes are so predictable that it is wrong to use the word accidents".
So true, we don't use the term plane accident when things go terribly wrong. I know there has been a move to change the term for a couple of decades not but it hasn't taken any traction.
 

Nico

Well-known Member. Moderator
#6
Interesting reading.
I also wonder about the single vehicle, single occupant fatalities reported as driver "lost control", of which some are suicides, and others only speculated as such.
No way to prove of course, but goes into the road death stats none-the-less.
 

Tele

Premier Member
#7
Great link, thanks Rus.
The pictorial "dot matrix" is a powerful way of presenting the number and sheer quantity of deceased persons. far more powerful than a few digits on the page.
And I agree .... the word "accident" is often incorrectly used . The company I work for has moved away from the term completely. Our reporting system is all about "Incidents' .... so much so that our internal corporate language at work rarely ever incorporates the term 'accident'.
 

Gatey

Premier Member
IBA Member
#8
I think the link between younger people and ownership of older cars has been shifting upmarket for at least the last decade.
On the work days its easy to spot newer vehicles and younger drivers now. Even there employers are aware of the need for better vehicles.
I expect that data will be looking better in the next ten years.
 

Vlad

Premier Member
#9
Interesting article. You have to wonder at the validity of raw stats not in context tho. Vehicle deaths down dramatically over the last 40 years but cycle deaths much less so. Cars are much safer now, more and more decisions are being removed from the driver, safety aids are much more prevalent, drivers feel safer more bullet proof so to speak. I drive a heavy vehicle for a living and these days as you drive around it’s not “ who is on the phone” it’s “ who is not on the phone” I f they want to be serious about the safety of people in and out of your vehicle, then cell reception blockers should be mandatory unless you can demonstrate an adequate level of expertise. Work regimes need to be looked at for heavy vehicle users and government needs to enforce what will enevitably be cost increases to the major players. Our government is seriously letting us down here. Recent response from ministers only highlight the utter cluelessness of law makers at the moment.
I don’t need to point out that the exposure level for riders hasn’t changed at all in the last 40 years or that the attitude of cagers in general has deteriorated dramatically, just witness the absurd reactions of drivers to lane filtering. Government letting you down again.
 

Daisy

Premier Member
#11
I f they want to be serious about the safety of people in and out of your vehicle, then cell reception blockers should be mandatory unless you can demonstrate an adequate level of expertise.
The problem I see with that is from the passenger seat. I quite often call the kids when we're on our way there, or they ring to find out where we are. Having reception blockers adversely affects everyone, not just drivers.
 

Gatey

Premier Member
IBA Member
#12
We never had this level of mobile phone intrusion prior to the late 90s.
None of us burst into flame dack then and kids didnt need hands held well into there twentys either. No offence to Daisy however her post got me thinking.

And Ron you are so on the money revards training.
 

Daisy

Premier Member
#13
Yeah, the kids are 2 and 3 hours away and it requires a little coordination - otherwise they'll nick off and I'd have to make my own cuppa.
The issue with phones in cars isn't actually talking on it, they read and send texts and browse farcebook and twatter and whatever that other one is where you post pictures of food and cat videos.
 

Rusjel

Premier Member
#14
Middle ground - reception blockers unless funnelled though a hands free system for drivers.

If you are a passenger and you can't possibly go a few minutes without reception, negotiate with the driver to Bluetooth your phone into their system.
 

Gatey

Premier Member
IBA Member
#15
Yeah, the kids are 2 and 3 hours away and it requires a little coordination - otherwise they'll nick off and I'd have to make my own cuppa.
The issue with phones in cars isn't actually talking on it, they read and send texts and browse farcebook and twatter and whatever that other one is where you post pictures of food and cat videos.
Mate that Cuppas got to be worth buying a staple gun and planting one of their big toes to the floor weeks in advance of your impending arrival and of course use a ninja to plant that fixture...
 

Nev..

#44764
Premier Member
#19
Interesting reading.
I also wonder about the single vehicle, single occupant fatalities reported as driver "lost control", of which some are suicides, and others only speculated as such.
No way to prove of course, but goes into the road death stats none-the-less.
Actually, not necessarily so. The official road toll is most (all?) Australian states is adjusted as other information comes to hand, such as if a health issue or suicide is identified as the cause of death by the coroner.

The only issue I have with the way they count the road toll is the inclusion of unlicensed riders in the count of all motorcyclists rather than in their own separate category. If you dressed up as a policeman and committed crimes, they wouldn't include this in their statistics of crimes committed by police
.