So, what’s causing so many people to crash?
The ‘Behavioural Risk Factors in New South Wales Crashes and Causalities’ report, published by Transport for New South Wales, sheds light on some of the most common reasons drivers lose control.
Speed
Unsurprisingly, speed is the dominant cause of car accidents in New South Wales, and has been for over a decade. In 2000, a total of 235 people were killed as a result of a speed-related crash, while a further 4,710 people sustained a car accident injury.
The number of people who lose their lives in speed-related incidents has dropped since then, with 146 fatalities recorded in 2012. The amount of people suffering car accident injuries has also fallen to 3,798. This is certainly a step in the right direction, but there is still plenty of work to be done.
Fatigue
The second highest cause of car accidents in New South Wales is fatigue. A total of 122 people died because of tired driving in 2000, and 2,175 were injured. This had, again, reduced to 62 deaths and 1,959 car accident injuries by 2012.
Unlike speed and alcohol, many people aren’t aware tired driving can have such deadly consequences. There also aren’t any laws against it. That’s why Transport for New South Wales recently launched its “Don’t Trust Yourself Tired” campaign, which is specifically designed to eradicate fatigue from New South Wales roads.
It’s being targeted at males aged 17 to 49, as they are most at risk of suffering car accident injuries from tired driving.
Alcohol
In third place is alcohol, which is responsible for many unnecessary deaths and car accident injuries across New South Wales. The first year of this millennium saw 107 people die and 1,853 people injured in an alcohol-related crash.
This had been nearly halved by 2012, with 56 fatalities and 1,033 car accident injuries reported that year. New South Wales has recently launched a number of new alcohol laws to combat dangerous behaviour that abuse of this substance causes – so this number is likely to fall even more in the coming years.
If you are involved in a crash and suffer a whiplash injury, get in touch with car accident lawyers. They can help you understand what car accident compensation you may be entitled to.