Australia’s roads are getting busier every year as the nation’s population grows.
Despite significant effort to reduce the number of accidents on Australia’s roads and an annual decrease in the number of fatalities, accidents continue to occur regularly.
Human error remains the single largest factor behind most accidents on Australian roads, and the latest statistics reveal most accidents could have been avoided.
Nose to tail collisions the most common
The latest statistics for accidents on Australian roads come up to 2016 and show that the most common kind of non-fatal crash was a nose to tail collision – a rear-ender – making up 35%.
This kind of accident happens frequently on congested roads as drivers accelerate and brake over and over, or engage in dangerous driving behaviour like tailgating.
Driving into things
Collisions with stationary objects were the next most common non-fatal accident type on Australia’s roads representing 24% of the total.
This includes everything from hitting a tree to reversing into a parked car.
This kind of accident can often be blamed on inattention, drivers not being aware of heir surroundings enough to avoid a collision with something they otherwise would not have hit.
Not giving way and bad reversing
Failure to give way was the next most frequent accident type, with 25% of the total. This is often the result of drivers failing to adequately judge the speed and distance of a vehicle that’s approaching them or not paying attention to what’s happening around them.
Collisions while reversing took 11% – even in an age when modern cars are being fitted with reversing cameras and sensors to warn drivers.
Finally, hitting an animal accounted for 5% with strikes against kangaroos accounting for 9 out of 10 of these kinds of collisions.
Forewarned is forearmed
The big lesson from these stats is that most of these accidents could be avoided if drivers paid more attention. Even if you are the safest driver in the world though, there is still a risk that someone could hit you.
But if you’re involved in a not my fault accident, remember that you are entitled to a like-for-like accident vehicle car to allow you to continue living your life while the damage is repaired.
Stats from:
https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/car-insurance/research/car-accident-statistics.html
