Submitted by admin on April 23, 2009 - 01:32
Causes of Accidents
Traffic accidents which result in injury to any person must be reported to the police, and a report on each of these accidents is forwarded to the Transport Department. From these reports statistics of accidents are compiled, and the table below sets out the main causes of accidents reported.
Factors Stated as Main Causes of Accident
| Causes | Number of Accidents |
| Drivers' faults: | |
| Failure to yield right of way at an | 1,698 |
| intersection | |
| Inattention or attention diverted | 1,211 |
| Excessive speed | 976 |
| Failure to keep left | 612 |
| Overtaking faults | 432 |
| Failure to comply with traffic signs and signals | 364 |
| Following too closely | 323 |
| Intoxicated | 304 |
| Turning suddenly | 237 |
| Other drivers' faults | 2,073 |
| Faults of pedal cyclist | 615 |
| Faults of pedestrians | 1,105 |
| Mechanical faults in motor vehicles | 475 |
| Mechanical faults in pedal cycles | 49 |
| Road conditions | 342 |
| Weather conditions | 102 |
| Miscellaneous and unknown | 418 |
| 11,336 |
Detailed research into traffic accidents both in New Zealand and overseas has shown that rarely can an accident be attributed to a single cause. Most accidents are the product of a number of factors operating together – for instance, a tired driver, smooth tyres, a slightly slippery road surface, light rain, and dazzling headlights might all be causes of one accident. If one of these factors had been corrected, then the accident would have been avoided. The natural tendency is to look for a driving fault when investigating an accident, but it is likely (and studies have confirmed) that factors such as road conditions, weather, and mechanical faults are considerably more important than the statistics given above would show.
