2007 Easter Road Toll
April 9, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Update (original article follows):
As one of our readers pointed out. There were 26 deaths on Australian roads during the Easter break and despite the State governments blaming speed, the reality paints a different picture:
- 1 person was killed after suffering a heart attack at the wheel (ACT)
- 1 crashed into a tree after being awake for 3 days straight, smoking cannabis and drinking bourbon (WA)
- 1 pedestrian was killed after lying on the middle of the road after an argument (WA)
- 1 child was killed by a rubbish truck reversing (NSW)
- 1 cyclist fell off his bike and was run over by a truck (VIC)
- 3 army special forced counter terrorism personnel veered off a bridge into the water under what appear to be suspicious circumstances (VIC)
- 1 person died after hitting the trailer of an oncoming vehicle (VIC)
- - Was the driver attempting to overtake and did not see the trailer?
- - Was there a severe wind that caused the trailer to sway into oncoming traffic?
Of the other 17 all were in NSW, VIC or QLD where harshest speed restrictions apply
- 4 were motorcyclists (with less protection than a car)
- At least 5 were where the driver was 68yo or older
- 2 are head on collisions (Did the drivers take their eyes off the road? Perhaps to check their speedos)
——————–Original Follows——————–
The State and Federal governments have failed miserably in keeping the road toll down this Easter long weekend. As it stands now, 21 people have died on Australian roads since Friday. Victoria’s Easter road toll is now nine. NSW has recorded six deaths, three fatalities on Queensland roads, two in Western Australia and one in the ACT.
What I do want to focus on however, is QLDs police’s attitude to QLD drivers. more than 8,000 drivers have received their yellow infringement notice for speeding (with a likelihood of it reaching 11,000 by monday night), 340 people have been cought drink driving, and 320 drivers have been cought driving without a seatbelt.
Since last monday, eleven people have died on QLD roads. If we compare the current QLD road toll to last years, a quarter of the way in to the year, the state’s road toll stands at 98, 18 more than the same time last year. I am going to go out on a limb here and say QLD’s Campaign 300 is a dismal failure.
Of course, QLD police continue to blame the entire problem on, yes you guessed it, speeding.
“I am particularly concerned about the excessive speeds being detected by police on our roads.” Police Minister Judy Spence said.
QLD Police have given 3 examples,
- a motorcyclist on a restricted licence caught travelling at 178km/h in a 80km/h zone;
- a driver who tried to run away from police after recording 172km/h in an 80km/h zone;
- a motorist who was caught driving at 185km/h in a 100km/h zone;
Out of all those 3 examples, no one has actually died. As for the 98 people who have died on our roads this year? Police like to mention that speed has been a contributing factor. But the reality is, when you can’t blame anything else, Speed is always a good cause.
However, QLD police have admitted defeat. Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson admitted police need the help of the community to combat irresponsible driving.
“The next phase for us as a community is to say we shouldn’t speed, we shouldn’t drink and drive, we should wear seatbelts, we shouldn’t drive while we’re tired. That that behaviour is no longer acceptable,” he said.
“And as much as (it’s about) enforcement, it’s as much about changing people’s attitude as well. I think we’ll achieve that. I genuinely believe that we can do it. But I think we have a little way to go before we do achieve it.”
So lets go back to the Speeding tickets, currently set to reach 11,000 tickets for the easter period. An average speeding ticket is for 13km over, but 20km under the speed limit. Which equates to 3 demerit points and $150. That works out to be $1.65 million dollars in speeding ticket revenue. Not a bad Easter bonus for QLD police?
As for QLDs fear driver campaign 300, which aims to bring the states road toll below 300, if the current trend continues (and there is no reason why it wouldn’t) Queensland would record more than 400 deaths in 2007.
“The road toll can be unpredictable. Some years, for the first six months, it’s been well over for six months and come back and vice versa. It’s still too early to call but if the current trend continues unchanged it will be close to 400.” Mr Atkinson said.
The state’s road toll has only been under 300 deaths once since 1956 and that was in 1998. QLD transport has been using a fear campaign to scare drivers into slowing down, a tactic which has obviously failed. One memorable poster involves a Police car with the police lights engaged, and the text reads “There is no where to hide”.
So, if you put your self in Mr Atkinson’s shoes, with the road toll 12% higher than last year, and more speeding tickets given to drivers than last year, what would you do to combat the problem? Bring in Fixed Speed Cameras of course.
Mr Atkinson said legislation for fixed speed cameras, to come into effect from July 1, might help to reduce the high number of fatalities this year.
It seems that QLD police and QLD transport are governed by senile decision makers unable to comprehend the real problems on our roads. When will QLD transport wake up and realize that there really is an alternative way to combat the road toll as oppose to using speed cameras to raise more and more revenue whilst using fear as oppose to education to improve driver maturity and reason.
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Yes I find it funny how everything relates to speeding, which is a load of crap. Anyway why isnt the issue of restrictions being considered? We restricted young drivers, lets not be hypocritical!!!
Maybe passenger restrictions? Maybe a new plate system for crap old drivers? Or restrict highway speeds to 90km/h like they do for young drivers (becuase highways, straight, flat stretches of road are where crashes always occur!)?
Anyway I personally dont feel as though we are in some sort of crisis as the police etc would have us believe, fact is every holiday period there are going to be more deaths as there are more people on the road! And if you look at previous years stats, there is no trend, one year the figure goes up then next it goes down. Its just a fact of life.
Don’t worry paul all the new restrictions are also coming into place http://www.caradvice.com.au/13.....july-2007/
its just a f$#king joke! The police are acting as if this is a bloody police state, trying to scare us, FEAR tactics DONT work!
Hahaha what a joke. I am the proud owner of a high performance vehicle, and was yesterday *commended* by Gold Coast police for modifying my car “correctly”. We all speed, we all break the law. Big deal.
What I want to point out is the government’s failure to fix one of the real issues here. I was driving along the M1/Riverside Expressway last night after having dropped my partner off at work. The road was slightly wet, but nothing overkill. Loss of traction with my new tyres was very minimal, if any at all. Driving along, minding my own business, I went to overtake another driver, and hit a bump in the road, which resulted in my rear wheels regaining traction and my car fishtailing along the highway.
See, we could blame this on a few things. One, my high performance vehicle having a sudden influx of 14psi, two, my impatience and wanting to overtake the other vehicle, or three, the road itself. Whoops. Did I just blame the roads for a possible accident?
What treachery.
Yeah I think there a number of others factors involved then speeding… fatigue, distractions etc.
As for the speeding/drinking driving stats as well (seat belt infringments, those people should lose their license imo), they make it a major issue, but put it in perspective, of course the number of incidents of speeding etc will be up:
* More people on the road
* More cops out on the road during holiday period (funny why they aernt always out in such numbers – reven raising!)
Ashley, According to the police… it would be you ‘hooning’ because you drive a modified sports car. just think if you never did have a stage in your life where your car was sidewayz, you may not have been able to recover form the potential accident caused by the bad roads. see? drifting makes safer drivers :)
*I don’t know Ashley or if they have/haven’t had a hooning stage in their life*
my 2c
Driver education and training is what is required. punitive actions have had no affect at all. The one dimensional approach (better detection)taken by every State is simplistic and is not working. Well respected motoring journalist and commentator predicted the outcome of this Easter 2 months ago on National Radio on ABC, Will Hagen put a plan together to avoid the problem and the NSW Transport Minister didn’t even look at it. Driver attitude starts with education. For all there expertise on law enforcement Police are not experts on Human behavior and as such know nothing about modifying people’s behavior. Yet whenever the Governments put a working party is put together to tackle the road toll key people are missing ie: Youth Workers, Behavioral Scientist, Educationalists and experts in traffic management. Yet the Police are always at the front of the class, I say get them of the working parties and the quicker the better.
Ah but Paul, education would cost the states money. And if people stopped having accidents, then they wouldn’t catch anyone on these double demerit speeding ticket frenzies which earn them money =). It’s just playing politics, people who don’t have a clue in the community think restrictions will stop people, hasn’t anyone noticed it isnt?
Woops, I meant John not Paul :)
I agree with Paul, because we need to get these hoons off the road, but for me, turning 16 in not too long, it will be unfair because I do love going around Adelaide at night, driving around, parties, ect. I am sensible and respect cars and am not the “VL turbo” type which is becoming a popular hoon car. Hope it stops all of the deaths though, but I still hope that for sensible people like me they may consider benefits for when you make it to P1 or P2 there may be less curfew or whatever restrictions.
Just interested Damo as you mentioned you like to drive around Adelaide at night and i was just wondering what you do for the other 9 hours ? Also it doesnt matter what type of person you are now days if your young and behind the wheel expect a bit of attention from the cops as when it comes to young people Unfortunately the cops will throw you all in one basket Hoon or not… bugger!
But what is a hoon? People who modify their car, legally, often have their cars in better condition then people who don’t?
In answer to your question Matt the Macquarie Dictionary defines a hoon as “a foolish or silly person” Hmmmmmm ….
Very interesting article i found in my blogness on speed and the government at http://www.petrolhead.net.au
Gives Bracks a bit of going over and fair enough too..
I don’t actually drive around. Normally I take the bus, get driven by a mate or brother, or take a cab. The other time, I usually do the standard stuff, Work, education, then just doing my home so called ‘duties’. It’s all pretty standard stuff to most people, you want to try it. I just prefer night time, because it isn’t as… well, bland.
There were 26 deaths on Australian roads during the Easter break.
1 person was killed after suffering a heart attack at the wheel (ACT)
1 crashed into a tree after being awake for 3 days straight, smoking cannabis and drinking bourbon (WA)
1 pedestrian was killed after lying on the middle of the road after an argument (WA)
1 child was killed by a rubbish truck reversing (NSW)
1 cyclist fell off his bike and was run over by a truck (VIC)
3 army special forced counter terrorism personnel veered off a bridge into the water under what appear to be suspicious circumstances (VIC)
1 person died after hitting the trailer of an oncoming vehicle (VIC)
- Was the driver attempting to overtake and did not see the trailer?
- Was there a severe wind that caused the trailer to sway into oncoming traffic?
Of the other 17 all were in NSW, VIC or QLD where harshest speed restrictions apply
4 were motorcyclists (with less protection than a car)
At least 5 were where the driver was 68yo or older
2 are head on collisions (Did the drivers take their eyes off the road? Perhaps to check their speedos)
10,000 speeding fines were issued by police in QLD alone in this period. $2 million in speeding fine revenue results in 4 people dying from what
may or may not be speed related.
Regards
Bruce Josephs
Thank you Bruce
added to the main article to reflect the misconception that the government has with speeding and deaths.
I was wondering if anyone has statistics for previous years? I have been looking but there seems to be a lot of contradicting numbers (I’m just talking about the state by state tallies), even this year some claim 27 and others 26.
i think ashley is a wanker
there is too many hooning going on on our roads. what do u ppl get out of it?
Speed is the single most contributing factor to fatal accidents on our roads today. If you can’t accept this then you are just plain ignorant.
Tonight I heard talkback on the radio, I heard someone complaining about the advertisement they had seen in South Australia, about the child running onto the road and how we shouldn’t be encouraging children to behave like that.
That was the opinion of an arrogant man. Kids do what kids do because they are kids. Kids might see mum or friends on the other side of the road, they get excited, they run onto roads. They chase balls onto roads, they chase pets onto roads. They are kids. I agree we need to educate our kids to try to reduce the number of horrific accidents on our roads, but kids get excited.
Grown men, football players for example, get excited, even though they know it’s wrong, they will punch somebody on the field of play knowing that they are going to get punished for it. It’s human nature. Spontaneity.
Its common sense, the faster you are going in a vehicle, the more damage you are going to do if you hit someone or something.
Think of this analogy. Mike Tyson is going to thump you on the chin, but before he does he gives you the choice, I can hit you hard or I can hit you soft. Which option are you going to take??
Myself, I’d go the soft. It is still going to hurt but I’m betting the damage is going to be considerably less!
The last thing we need is for a respected man in the motor industry, listened to by lots of people, including impressionable young people who think they can drive and will never crash, telling us all how speed limits are stupid and it’s not the driver’s fault, it’s everyone else’s.
Grow up and learn to accept that sometimes you may be wrong.
Ashley has a little one and has to make himself feel better by driving a big car.
QUOTE = Kids do what kids do because they are kids. Kids might see mum or friends on the other side of the road, they get excited, they run onto roads. They chase balls onto roads, they chase pets onto roads. They are kids. I agree we need to educate our kids to try to reduce the number of horrific accidents on our roads, but kids get excited.
No I DISAGREE… if the kids are taught properly they wont run across the road. I dunno maybe you were braindead when you were young but I was taught to avoid going on the road unless with an adult and at the very least to look both ways. The only child I can see being dumb enough to cross despite being educated is someone around 2 years old… who in which case shouldnt be alone in such a situation anyway.
Im not going to deny that if some uneducated kid runs onto the road speeding wont help the situation, but most people dont speed in urban areas. The issue is speeding on main roads etc where there arent little kiddies who are going to run across the road from behind a car etc. In these situations, which are where most fatal crashes occur (not built up areas!) it has more to do with other issues such as lack of concentration, fatigue, poor road conditions etc rather then speed.
Kev Cornish said “Speed is the single most contributing factor to fatal accidents on our roads today. If you can’t accept this then you are just plain ignorant.”
Well Kev, if you actually look at the international crash stats (from countries that are game enough to actually look at the causal factors of road crashes … unfortunately, no state in Australia is), you find that between 6.5 and 7.5% of injury crashes involve a vehicle that is exceeding the speed limit (fatals are less than 1% higher). In other words, 93% of injury crashes involve only vehicles that are travelling BELOW the speed limit. Unless that 93% are caused by more than a dozen separate things in very even weighting … then you cannot, statistically, get Speed to be the “single most contributing factor”.
That said, of course speed is the single factor in ALL fatal crashes … basic physics tells us that two stationary vehicles will never crash into each other!
Now this is a pretty poor joke, but it does address the basic problem … SPEED does not mean SPEEDING. The data collection methodology used by NSW Police is flawed … if a vehicle skidded, slid or otherwise lost control – tick the speed box … no consideration of other factors such as road condition. If one vehicle ran into the back of another – tick the speed box … it is simply presumed that the ONLY reason that one vehicle runs into the back of another is that it was travelling at too high a speed to stop in time.
Then this data is “interpretted” by the RTA road safety people. Their interpretation of a tick in the “speed” box is “the vehicle was speeding”. No wonder they come out with stats like “40% of all crashes involve speed … so the answer is more speed enforcement”.
It does not matter how hard we crack-down on the 7% of speeding vehicle crashes … unless we are willing to look into the cause of the other 93% of crashes, we will never get anywhere.
Well said david,
but the main issue is Speeding tickets form a large part of each states budget for “road safety”
so its an endless cycle, state governments rely on people to speed in order to… protect them from speeding..