teenage road deaths

[Jeremy]

What a load of selfserving garbage. 90 15-24yo this year so far. As a percentage, this has to be the worst year ever for young people killing themselves and others on our roads.

Stats comes to the rescue. Might be an outlier, you simply can't just say 90 people. You'd need to know what it was like for the past 50 years. And you'd need to know the proportion of people of that age living in NZ.

Edit: Knew the LTSA had to have it somewhere.

http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/research/young.html

[Ixion]

"nice docile girls" ha. And another ha for good measure. The worst drivers I've ever met are female, incapable of controlling the car at low speeds often with cars they did not pay for themselves.

If someone has worked hard for something then you'll do whatever it takes to keep it. Most of the "boy racers" I've met are absolutely petrified that someone will hit their car as they'd cost a fortune to replace.

I'm also fairly sure that there hasn't been a real increase in the number of youth driving casulties. As the population increases of course there's going to be more deaths.

The other group of drivers I don't trust are the middle aged ones driving around in their BMWs. They don't care if they hit someone, they can afford to replace their cars with ease. Even speeding tickets don't affect them as they can afford to take a taxi to work if they lose their license. Also it's been a long time since they had to pass a driving test. The people I see following the road rules to the letter tend to be young.

By the way the quickest test I can think of that shows that there really isn't a problem with how young people can drive is really this thread. People are talking because 4 young people died due to excessive speed. There wouldn't even be a thread if it was 4 people in their 30s as that is so common it happens every week.

Lot of truth there. Can't say I can recall the last time a boi racer actually did something that endangered me. Very annoying to be sure, especially to an old Nana like me. But that's not the same as dangerous.

Not quite sure that it's true that the issue is no more than it was when I was young. My mates used to write off cars , but didn't kill themselves.

And some of the angst about young drivers dying is because their death causes more heartsearching.

If an old fart like me dies, some people (I hope) will grieve. But there will be an unspoken thought of "Oh well, he had his innings, and probably didn't have long to go anyway"

When a 16year old dies, people feel that it is a waste, and a shame that the young person never got to experience much of life. So people do feel young deaths more.

I am SO not getting into any argument about the merits of male and female drivers

[mstriumph]

soooooooooo many generalisations, soooooooooooo little *searching fruitlessly for right word* .........

..................... The worst drivers I've ever met are female, incapable of controlling the car at low speeds often with cars they did not pay for themselves...............middle aged ones driving around in their BMWs. They don't care if they hit someone, they can afford to replace their cars with ease. Even speeding tickets don't affect them as they can afford to take a taxi to work if they lose their license. Also it's been a long time since they had to pass a driving test.........

[yungatart]

The point is, Jeremy, that young men (15-24) are much more likely to die on the roads than any other age group-because of their attitudes, lack of skill and experience. That is a fact. 90 of these young people have died in seven months this year. That is horrendous!!! Some of these have been girls -but i'd hazard a guess that the cars were driven by boys in most cases.
When young ones die it is more tragic than some old fart losing their life, because it is the total irrevocable loss of potential. They will never achieve their goals or dreams and in most cases, will not have even begun to.
I sincerely hope yooung fella, when you get out there on the road on your nice new fast bike that you are saving up for, that you don't become one of the statistics.

[mstriumph]

Aaaaawwwwww !!

I am SO not getting into any argument about the merits of male and female drivers

[mstriumph]

ie EXACTLY the same reasons governments find it so easy to send them into battle?

The point is, Jeremy, that young men (15-24) are much more likely to die on the roads than any other age group-because of their attitudes, lack of skill and experience. That is a fact. ......................

[Jeremy]

Damn looks like I needed a 7 point mean, but anyway it shows the trend fairly well.

Also even this is missing significant pieces of information, such as who was at fault, alchohol consumed. Anyway considering that the population has grown by a million people (a third). It's a dramatic decrease in road toll over time.

[yungatart]

Looks like the trend is coming down, but I notice that your graph stops at 2003.A comparison over all ages would be good too. However that 90 kids have died in the last seven months is still a tragedy in my opinion and one that we need to do something about.

[mstriumph]

my grandfather always used to say [and i don't believe it was original] that there are three classes of liars -----
. liars
. damn liars
. statistics

and being able to graph 'how many' is no help whatsoever in bringing a single one of them back to life

sad

[Marmoot]

Errr - I'm drunk and emotional so just ignore me. I tend to rant a bit when the neurotoxins remove my inhibitions. Suppressed rage at social injustice you know.

No apology necessary, Jim.
your previous post about feminization of our general values make much sense and is quite novel and original for me. I have never seen the problem put in such an accurate way.

Well done.

Gives me shivers with this government trying to interfere with family values more and more by anti-spanking bills etc.

[Jantar]

... The worst drivers I've ever met are female....

soooooooooo many generalisations, soooooooooooo little *searching fruitlessly for right word* .........

mstriumph, Note what Jeremy said. He was specific and not generalising at all.

I must agree with him as the worst driver I've ever met was also a female. However Jeremy isn't claiming that ALL, or even a majority of, female drivers are bad drivers. And I will state that one of the best drivers I've ever met is a female. She was very fast around Levels, and extremely confident and competent on the open road.

[mstriumph]

mebbe - but also coherant and able to spell under pressure - i admire that in a man

Errr - I'm drunk and emotional so just ignore me. I tend to rant a bit when the neurotoxins remove my inhibitions. Suppressed rage at social injustice you know.

[mstriumph]

.. and the "middle-aged BMW drivers ......." ?

mstriumph, Note what Jeremy said. He was specific and not generalising at all. ...................

[Jantar]

.. and the "middle-aged BMW drivers ......." ?

I can't comment on the middle aged drivers in BMWs, as the only person I know in this category is a female who is a fairly good driver.

[Jeremy]

The point is, Jeremy, that young men (15-24) are much more likely to die on the roads than any other age group-because of their attitudes, lack of skill and experience. That is a fact.

Is it a fact? Can you prove that it's not because they travel more kms than the other age groups? Or that they're more likely to be carrying a full load of passengers thus they appear overrepresented the data. I see it everyday when I go into Uni. I haven't seen anyone other than students car pooling.