[russellw]

As Victoria has an excellent resource in the accident statistical database, we have expanded our previous data review to encompass the period from 1987-2009 inclusive.

Part 1 looks at the high level data while Part 2 looks at the prevailing conditions and accident types.

Executive Summary

I was somewhat hoping that the 23 years of data would show some impact from the improvements that have been made in passive safety across the last three decades but the data doesn't really depict any significant changes for the better.

The situation is somewhat better for dynamic safety initiatives as there is a marked decrease (about 55%) in the total number of accidents but this does not seem to correlate with an improvement in either the death or serious injury data.

In simple terms we are having less accidents but managing to kill about the same number of people and while we are seriously injuring less people in raw number terms, the drop is only about 12% so the rate has actually increased.

The legislators will probably be pleased to note that the biggest drop in accidents has occurred in the suburbs (about halved) lending some credence to the speed camera regime but as this has not coincided with a drop in fatalities and serious injuries it should be cold comfort to them. Conversely, rural accident rates are largely unchanged in raw number terms.

Cheers
Russ