If you think about it, there should be no crashes on our roads. Speed limits are lower than ever, our roads are improving, our vehicles are safer than ever, and there’s a plentiful supply of road safety campaigns, education and training. Yet the road toll to date is up more than 25% on 2005. Why?

Crashes are caused by several factors, but each comes under three main points: how we behave as drivers, the vehicles we drive and the roads we use.

Driver Behaviour

Complacency

Not all crashes are reported – or reported equally. When six people died in Mildura earlier this year, the media coverage was extensive. But, on average, five people die per day on Australian roads. Each week five times the number of people that were killed at Mildura, die on our roads. This is comparable to the combined mortality rate from smoking and alcohol-related diseases.

In a speech to the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), governor-general Michael Jeffrey noted “a further 20,000 people are seriously injured [paraplegia, quadriplegia, limb amputation and brain damage] each year in road crashes – an average of two every hour. And 10 years ago, the dollar cost of road deaths was estimated at $15 billion. Today, it’s believed to be double that.”

FACT: We have lost more people to road deaths than in battle in two world wars.

Yet we seem to underestimate the impact. A 2003 survey found that 65% of Australians believed 1000 people or less were killed on the roads that year, including 33% who thought the figure was 300 people or less. The average estimate was 500. The actual number was three times that much: 1628.

What is reported can also bias our understanding of car crashes. Research in the US has shown that a fatal crash is more likely to be reported if an innocent victim is killed and the person at fault does not die. A crash is also more likely to be reported if it involves vehicles we love to hate, such as trucks and 4WDs, but the factors that led to the crash are less likely to rate a mention.

Hilary Wise, NRMA’s Head of Public Policy, says, “It would be good if the media reported crashes on a more regular basis and reported how many people were killed or injured during every week of the year.

“In general, people are complacent when it comes to road safety and just don’t understand the true enormity of the problem. It is a preventable public health issue in the same sense that alcoholism and AIDS are.”

The other issue is optimism bias: people just don’t think it will ever happen to them.

The truth behind holiday death tolls So we all agree the road death toll is higher during holidays. Right? Wrong. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau analysed data between 1989 and 2002 and found the Christmas holiday period death rate was higher than the rest of the year on only three occasions (1989, 1996 and 1997). In the other years, it was either lower or about the same. According to Hilary Wise "awareness is heightened (during holidays) and we don't get that during non-holiday periods. However, considering there is increased traffic over holiday periods, it's fair to say that if it weren't for enhanced education and enforcement during these periods, the road toll would be higher."

Driver distraction

Text messaging while you’re driving is dangerous, illegal and stupid. And yet it continues to occur. In Warrnambool, Victoria, two girls aged 13 and 14 were killed when the car they were passengers in ran off the road. Police said a mobile phone had been a key factor in the crash. Also in Victoria, a cyclist was killed by a motorist who was using a mobile phone while driving. In WA, an 18-year-old was jailed after he let a friend, who was sitting in the passenger seat, steer the car he was driving so he could read an SMS. The car ran into a tree and the friend was killed.

In a study by Monash University, the young drivers surveyed spent four times the amount of driving time with their eyes off the road when illegally sending SMS messages than motorists who obey the law.

* By midnight tonight  five people would have died on Australian roads. A further 539 would have been injured. This happens every single day.

“This shows how dramatic an impact messaging has on a driver’s [ability to] focus on the road and how badly it affects driving performance,” says John Brown, NRMA road safety expert.

“The research found that when driving and sending messages at the same time, young drivers would veer out of their lane 63% more frequently. Think what would result if this happened on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.”

The results show that almost every aspect of their driving performance was badly affected.

“It is interesting to note that participants in the trial recognised the increased safety risk of text messaging while driving, yet many still take the unnecessary risk to retrieve or send messages,” says John.

But it’s not just phones. In another study, Monash University measured the reaction times of drivers approaching a pedestrian hazard while changing radio stations. The drivers were travelling 11km/h faster than those not distracted, and their vehicle wandered 80cm more than when there was no distraction. They also found that if you’re distracted and your reaction time is slowed by even half a second, the car will travel eight metres more at 60km/h, or 14 metres more at 100km/h, before the brakes are applied.

“That’s the difference between stopping safely and crashing into a car or pedestrian,” says John. 

Modern technology is placing even more distractions in cars, including complex climate controls, sound systems and DVD screens. 

Another major distraction for drivers is children. An NRMA survey in 2005 found that three out of five motorists take their eyes off the road to deal with distracting children. And nearly one in five swerved out of their lane due to child distraction. Siblings fighting (83%) and children interfering with the driver (60%) were found to be the main causes of distraction, with half of all surveyed saying they had to stop the car because they were so distracted.

HOT TIP: You can reduce distractions by: Keeping children occupied with toys, tapes, etc. and stopping regularly so they (and you) can let off steam; Letting your phone go to voicemail. Pull over to make or answer a call or retieve a message. And NEVER send an SMS while driving

HOT TIP: Headaches, fidgeting,tension, nervousness, yawning or poor concentration are signs of fatigue. Don't fight it. but do keep fresh air circulating in the car, share the driving, eat light, fresh food and keep the kids amused.

Fatigue Four out of five fatigue-related crashes occur on country roads and fatigue is responsible for 20% of fatal crashes. What’s more it can happen within two hours of starting your trip. But fatigue doesn’t just happen to holidaymakers, it can happen on short trips, too. A study by the Centre for Sleep Research in South Australia revealed that if you have been awake for 17 hours, your risk of having a crash is similar to someone with a .05 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC).

Alcohol/drug use

FACT: A .05 BAC means twice the crash  risk; a .08 BAC means seven times the  crash risk; and a .15 BAC menas 25 times   the crash risk.

Drink driving continues to be the cause of around 25% of fatalities, but it has declined over time. Police enforcement through random breath testing (RBT) has driven this change and more drivers now believe that if they drink and drive they will get caught. Of concern, however, is the increasing incidence of drug driving. A survey in 2004 revealed that one in four young Australian men have driven a car while under the influence of illegal drugs, believing it does not affect their driving.

Speeding

FACT: 'There's no such thing as safe  speeding', 'no deadline is worth dying for'  'speed kills'.

Nudge the speed limit and you’ve broken the law. Speeding is a major contributor to crash risk. But speeding is not only driving faster than the posted speed limit, it can also mean driving too fast for the conditions. For example, if the road is wet it’s important to slow down and maintain at least a three second gap between you and other vehicles.

Country drivers

FACT: The majority of NSW road deaths   occur in the country and involve country   drivers.

Country NSW makes up about one third of the State’s population but experiences over two thirds of all fatalities. There’s a general belief that it’s out-of-towners having these crashes, yet the NSW Government Country Road Safety Summit 2004 found the majority of all NSW road fatalities occur in the country and involve country drivers. In the period 1999–2003, speed-related crashes led to the deaths of 659 people. Of these speeding drivers killed or injured in country areas, more than 83% were country residents and more than 44% crashed in their local area.

P-platers

The sad fact is, young drivers are over represented in road deaths, and young males are significantly over represented in crashes. Drivers aged 17–25 years hold 16% of licences but make up 26% of deaths on our roads. In fact, deaths due to road crashes are higher among 15–24 year olds than any other age group.
On average, a P-plater dies on our roads every six days and they are involved in an average of 17 crashes every day. If you’re in the 17–20 years age group, you are three times more likely than drivers aged 21 and over to be involved in a serious crash. Lack of experience is generally what kills young drivers.
To combat this problem, politicians and road safety experts have floated ideas such as night curfews and bans on high-powered vehicles. However, to get a better understanding, NRMA held focus groups to ask young drivers – those most concerned – what they thought the answer was. They said:

• More education about the attitudes of young drivers;
• Opportunity to improve car-handling skills;
• More education in schools for young people close to driving age; and
• Tougher testing and licensing: this is fairer than imposing restrictions and punishing all young drivers.

FACT: Young drivers account for one   in four deaths on our roads.

Young drivers are also over-represented in road injuries.

“Over half of all trauma admissions to NSW hospitals in 2004 with serious injuries were the result of road trauma and over a quarter of these were people aged 15–24,” says Anne Morphett, NRMA Road Safety Expert.

Parents, friends and the media have an impact on the skills and attitudes our kids have to driving. We’ve all seen the TV advert where a child is scolded by her mum for calling someone ‘a bloody idiot’ and the mum goes on to yell the same thing at a motorist. Much of what kids learn comes from observing other people, particularly parents. So while driver training and road safety should be part of every school curriculum, we can’t put all the responsibility onto schools. Any bad driving habits you’ve picked up, your kids are likely to pick up, too!

Risk-taking behaviour Most developmental psychologists agree risk-taking in adolescence is part of an assertion of independence, although some are motivated by poor self-esteem and lack of confidence. Their reckless behaviour is their way to get the approval of their peers. However, the problem lies with their apparent inability to evaluate the potential risks and consequences of everyday behaviour. Thrill seeking, the need to impress friends, feelings of invincibility and the search for new experiences are all factors that drive many teenagers to act without concern for consequences or fully evaluating the risks. Some teenagers don’t see speeding, drink driving or failure to wear seatbelts as potentially risky in the same way as adults do. For them, the risk is in social rejection – not being seen as cool – if they don’t do what their friends are doing. Programs such as NRMA’s Youth and Trauma Forum (see page 43) aim to raise student awareness about the consequences of these risk behaviours.

Driver training and education

As Open Road reported late last year, post-driver training courses that put undue emphasis on vehicle handling skills don’t make safer drivers.
“A good driver training course will concentrate heavily on driver awareness, attitude and motivation,” says Alan Finlay, manager of NRMA Safer Driving Program. “Training that reinforces defensive skills and real life experience, delivered in a way that people can relate to, is likely to be the most successful.” 

FACT: Any driver training program is not    the sole answer, but it can be part of the   solution.

Teaching skills is one thing but developing and applying appropriate driving behaviour is the end goal, and any program has to be reinforced by ongoing, constructive input, such as tips from more experienced drivers, keeping up to date with traffic regulations and seeking more information about safer driving techniques from magazine articles, books, videos, etc.
After intensive research, NRMA now offers its own post-licence driver training courses, developed on the principles of low-risk driving (see page 45).

ROADS

Better Roads Save Lives

“As a country Member, I am sick of [people saying] it’s the roads’ fault whenever there is a fatal accident. I have yet to see the road physically cause an accident. It’s the driver who does so by NOT driving to the prevailing road and weather conditions.”

While this Member’s point is certainly valid, the reason NRMA thinks ‘Better Roads Save Lives’ is that good roads can be a lot more forgiving.

FACT: A better road can mean the   difference between a minor crash and a   fatality.

As drivers we all make mistakes; our attention wanders and we become distracted, particularly on long drives. A forgiving road means that a mistake is less likely to turn into a disaster.

Say you are suddenly forced to move to the side of the road. On a good road you might hit a crash barrier that is designed to reduce the severity of a crash, or there might be a large area of bitumen that lets you slow down while you regain control. On a poor road you can crash into a hard rigid item like a tree, and while ABS brakes can prove life saving on the bitumen, they are nowhere near as effective on loose surfaces.

There’s also the issue of dangerous intersections, potholes that throw a car offline and shoulders with a big drop-off.

The real issue is the Pacific Highway

In a 10-year period up to 2003, the Pacific Highway experienced 10,000 crashes, which resulted in 500 deaths. It represented about 9% of the deaths in NSW and 3% of the deaths in Australia.

FACT: In the decade from 1994 - 2003,  14,300 people were killed or injured on   the Pacific, Hume and Princes highways,  costing the community billions in   health and related costs.

In response, NRMA President Alan Evans and director Wendy Machin joined with the north coast community last year to form the Pacific Highway Taskforce. Its objective is to lobby the government to upgrade the 430km of highway that is still not divided. Yet, while this road deserves particular attention, it’s not the only one.

A 2005 NRMA audit of the Princes Highway (Waterfall to the Victorian border) found that the crash rates on it were higher than those on the Pacific, New England and Hume highways.

“In excess of $10 billion is required to upgrade our major highways to divided dual carriageways,” says NRMA President Alan Evans. “Research has shown that building a divided road can slash head-on crashes by up to 90%.”

The award-winning NRMA campaign fixourbloodyroads.com highlights the need to upgrade major highways, and calls on governments to invest a fairer share of petrol taxes and motoring charges into our highway network. In addition, NRMA is also a member of the Princes and Hume highways’ taskforces.

Truck traffic

We all want our milk and bread to be available at the supermarket, but few shops are located next to a rail line. Australia has over 810,052km of roads and only 44,262km of rail track, so for many towns, there is no alternative. For example, towns south of Nowra rely on the Princes Highway as their primary transport route as there is no rail line.

NRMA supports the use of the railway system wherever possible, but as we’ve seen there are instances where transporting freight via road remains the only viable and competitive option.

FACT: Large trucks were involved in only   10% of road fatalities in 2003 and, of those,  67% were not the fault of the truck driver.

However, the crux of the issue seems not to be the volume of trucks on our roads but driver behaviour. When Open Road ran a report on this issue last year, we were inundated with letters and calls from motorists and truckies. Motorists were furious at what they described as “menacing behaviour by truck drivers who forced them into dangerous situations”, while truckies insisted that motorists do not adapt their driving style to take into account the restrictions facing truck drivers, such as increased stopping distances.

VEHICLES

Car safety

Technology has produced some major safety breakthroughs in car design. But not all modern cars are equal, so it’s important to be informed before you purchase a car.   FACT: You are five times more likely to be  seriously injured or killed in a car that is  less protective than in a car ranked the  safest. If the structure of your car doesn’t protect you in a crash, any extra safety features won’t be as effective. The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) tests the top selling new vehicles in Australia. The cars are used in simulated crashes to see what protection they give you, then it’s given a rating based on the projected injuries and how the body of the car held up. So, if you’re buying a new car make sure you check its ANCAP safety rating. If you are buying a used car, you can check NRMA’s Used Car Safety Ratings (UCSR). These are based on crash records of over one million crashes between 1987–2003. UCSR rate the vehicle’s crashworthiness (how much it’s likely to protect you in a crash) and its aggressivity (how badly it’s likely to hurt another road user in a crash).

NRMA: Making Driving Safer Some of the projects NRMA has launched to make life on the road safer for you include: DRIVERS RoadZone: exhibition for 9–14-year-olds SHIFT 2nd Gear CD Motorvate DVD Getting There for parents of young drivers Safer Driving DVD Safer Driving Education Centre Safer Driving courses (pre- and post-licence) Years Ahead program for older drivers ROADS fixourbloodyroads.com Better Roads Panels Highway audits VEHICLES Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP)/Used Car Safety Ratings (UCSR) Australian National Crash In-Depth Study NRMA also works with RTA, NSW Police and Motor Accidents Authority on road safety issues.

Safety at a price

Some manufacturers can rattle off what sounds like a great list of safety features, but there’s a catch. They sometimes limit these essential safety features to ‘packages’, which include other items such as CD players or sunroofs. So, if you want to buy the base model and option it with the best safety package, you are forced to pay for luxury items that you don’t want. This concerns NRMA, as does the practice of some manufacturers to ‘decontent’ imported vehicles, ie. sell the models in Australia with fewer safety features than in their countries of origin.

FACT: Manufacturers will take notice if we  demand that safety features come as  standard. Can you really afford not to put  safety first when buying a new car?

“NRMA has told all manufacturers that all base-model vehicles should be sold with at least a full six airbag package and ABS brakes, irrespective of what convenience items accompany them,” says NRMA Vehicle Policy Expert Jack Haley.

However, manufacturers won’t respond unless customers demand these safety packages come as standard. The problem is, not everyone rates safety as the main issue when buying a used car. In a 2004 survey, 35% of women said the price of a car was more important to them than its safety features.

Motorcycles Motorcyclists in general are 30 times more likely to be killed than car occupants in a crash, and five times more likely to be killed than cyclists in a crash. In NSW alone, there are over 2000 motorcycle crashes each year, and although motorcycles represent only 4% of all crashes, they make up 10% of all deaths and 7% of all injuries on our roads. Australian roads have been developed almost entirely to accommodate cars. Many rural crashes occur due to “prehistoric approaches to road repairs that might be okay for cars but are extremely dangerous for motorcycle riders,” says Guy Stanford from the Motorcycle Council of NSW (MCC). “There are steel plates and slippery surfaces everywhere.” Conversely, in urban areas, these fatalities have arisen due to a collision with a car, indicating a lack of awareness by motorists. As a result, the  MCC has been working on separate motorcycle strategies: in rural areas funds are needed to improve roads, while in the city the focus is on improving driver awareness. Even though bad roads and blinkered car drivers are part of the problem, one-third of all motorcycle crashes in NSW are single-vehicle crashes that involve the rider losing control or running off the road. NRMA is helping to improve motorcycle safety by conducting research on both motorcyclists’ and drivers’ perspectives. NRMA also sponsors the Motorcycle Safety Council website which has safety info and links to NRMA’s website.

How good are these safety features?

Recently, there has been some very positive research into electronic stability control (ESC), which can detect when a car is in a skid and help a driver regain control. Reductions of 50% on all run-off road crashes and 60% of 4WD run-off road crashes have been shown in the US and Europe in vehicles fitted with ESC. Four-wheel drive crashes are often associated with a rollover, which is a dangerous type of crash, so ESC is already resulting in significantly reduced injuries and fatalities. Similarly, results from ANCAP testing have shown that a driver’s airbag can typically reduce the risk of serious head injury by half. Also, it’s been reported that 20% of fatalities were not wearing a seatbelt.

FACT: According to the UK Transport Road   Research Laboratory, Princess Diana   and Dodi Fayed could have lived if each   had been wearing a seat belt.

In the near future, there may be technology available that can detect when your driving is deteriorating – from fatigue, when you’re changing lanes unsafely and when you’re too close to the vehicle in front, which is already available on Mercedes and Jaguar.

Does technology make us take risks?

We’ve all witnessed it: the idiot doing the U-turn with three lanes of oncoming traffic, and the other idiot dodging in and across lanes with little margin between the other cars. Why would anyone take these risks?

FACT: Modern technology can't override   the laws of physics. If you get more   safety features in your car, don't think you   can take more risks.

Perhaps it has something to do with cars today having more technology available to bail you out of such risky moves. Think about the car you learned on – no power steering, no ABS brakes. Would you have taken the same risks?

When you drive a car you are operating a complex piece of heavy machinery that can be lethal to others as well as yourself. Its safety features can only protect you to a point. The benefits of improved vehicle safety are compromised if you drive faster, more aggressively or are just plain stupid.

If you have a head-on crash into a solid object at over 80km/h, it becomes very difficult to protect you. The huge force on your body can cause your heart to be squashed against your ribcage, or your brain to get smashed on the inside of your skull, even if you are wearing a seatbelt and are surrounded by airbags.

WHAT YOU CAN DO The National Road Safety Strategy (agreed to by both the Federal and State governments) set a target of a 40% decrease in the fatality rate per 100,000 head of population by 2010. If this is reached, then 700 lives will be saved in 2010 alone. The Strategy predicts that the biggest reduction in deaths will be from safer roads (332 lives or 47%). Improved vehicle occupant protection would further reduce it by 175 (25%), improved road user behaviour another 158 (23%) and 35 (5%) from new technology. While it’s vitally important that governments work to improve our roads and car manufacturers make vehicle safety more affordable, they’re not the ones who get behind the wheel – you are. So every time you hit the road follow this checklist and help save lives. Always wear your seatbelt. Reduce blind spots by checking the position of your mirrors, head restraint and seat before starting the engine. Concentrate! It sounds obvious but it’s easy to forget you’re using a potentially lethal weapon. So limit distractions by keeping your mobile out of reach so you’re not tempted to answer it. The road is there to share – watch out for cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. If you’re feeling tired, don’t fight it. Stop and take a break. Remember: there’s no such thing as safe speeding. If you’re buying a car, it pays to get the safest, not sexiest, one you can afford.