Skip to main content

New Zealand road risk for motorists

New crash data from New Zealand points to a worrying trend for car occupants. In around 30% of fatal crashes, lack of seatbelt use is a primary factor in occupant deaths. An analysis of 200 fatal crashes in which occupants were not using seatbelts shows that 75% of those killed were male. Meanwhile 84% of the incidents occurred on rural roads. Many of those killed were young drivers while alcohol also played a role in many of the incidents. Research suggests that around 90% of vehicle occupants in New
April 27, 2018 Read time: 1 min
New crash data from New Zealand points to a worrying trend for car occupants. In around 30% of fatal crashes, lack of seatbelt use is a primary factor in occupant deaths. An analysis of 200 fatal crashes in which occupants were not using seatbelts shows that 75% of those killed were male. Meanwhile 84% of the incidents occurred on rural roads. Many of those killed were young drivers while alcohol also played a role in many of the incidents. Research suggests that around 90% of vehicle occupants in New Zealand use seatbelts.

Related Content

  • Napier University and RPS study looks at UK cycle lanes
    January 9, 2015
    A new UK report suggests local authorities should think twice about automatically incorporating cycle lanes in road design. David Arminas reports Environmental and social arguments for getting more people onto bicycles are well known. The theory is the more people cycling, the less traffic congestion and less air pollution from cars. Well-defined cycle lanes can encourage people who might otherwise be too nervous to take to a bicycle. But just how effective are cycle lanes for increasing the safety of
  • Safety risk if construction projects speed up
    February 27, 2012
    Many governments worldwide are using investment in infrastructure as a means to help tackle the current economic conditions. New highway construction, widening and repair contracts as well as bridge and tunnel projects that had been planned, are now being accelerated to help the industry and provide construction jobs.
  • France shows improving road safety while Germany sees decline
    July 12, 2012
    A very different road safety picture is emerging in two European nations, France and Germany. In France, the road fatality rate fell 4.7% for the month of June 2012, compared with the same period in the previous year. Some 320 people were killed on French roads in June 2012. In May 2012, the road death rate in France was only 0.9% lower than for the same period in the previous year. But in April 2012 the road death rate dropped 22.2% compared with 2011, 9% in March and 25.3% in February.
  • DUI risk from cannabis continues for hours
    October 17, 2018
    New research has revealed that drivers remain under the influence for several hours after smoking cannabis.