Low road toll

[MrKiwi]

From my previous experience in working in road safety there is this trend that is hard to explain but nevertheless there to see. When the price of fuel goes up and stays up for several months at a time, the road toll goes down. It seems that several factors 'might' account for this:
- people tend to drive slower to conserve fuel. Can't be certain this is the case, but it might just be a factor;
- people drive less; and/or
- at least in urban areas, more people tend to take the bus or the train.

We also know that there was a surge in motorbike and scooter sales in 2008 when the price of fuel went up and stayed up. It was this surge in sales which led to more bikes and scooters on the roads that saw an adverse trend in motorbike fatalities, at least in absolute numbers. When these numbers are converted to relative, ie number of fatalities per 10,000 riders the stats are not that much worse than for tin top accidents.

[CookMySock]

Bugger! What about their revenue generating activities? Lean days ahead for the popo..

What will they turn to for income? Perhaps put their hand in the general tax pool? Nah people wont wear that.. Put fines up? Nope, trend for people getting fines is downward.. So help me out here people?

[oneofsix]

Bugger! What about their revenue generating activities? Lean days ahead for the popo..

What will they turn to for income? Perhaps put their hand in the general tax pool? Nah people wont wear that.. Put fines up? Nope, trend for people getting fines is downward.. So help me out here people?

Oh yee of little faith. You can trust our pollies better than that. Tolerance lowered to 4k permanently for a start.
Nah the slower driving that lowers the road toll, if at all, will be at the extreme end, the ones that crash when chased rather than ticketed.
If lower speed continue you will see a raise in drivers dozing off type accidents.

[BoristheBiter]

Wrong. It is still a factor that needs to be taken into consideration. I've asked a few people recently this exact question, and all of them have stated the same. When the price of fuel goes up, they travel less.

I have taken it into consideration but i have seen no down turn in traffic on the roads here in Auckland.
Everyone is going on about using the car less but it's still taking me an hour to get to and from work and the motorways/roads are still full during the day.

I think there are too many variables to take into account as to why there are less crashes/deaths at the beginning of this year to just have a blanket statement but that hasn't stopped anyone before.

[Bald Eagle]

With recent enhancements to the capital train system the reverse has occured here.
The morning traffic from the Kapiti coast in to the City has increased along with the fuel price

[idb]

We're only up to March!
It seems a bit early to me to be trumpeting an annual reduction.

Are they comparing first quarters or extrapolating over the year?

[Eyegasm]

I have taken it into consideration but i have seen no down turn in traffic on the roads here in Auckland.

Hence why the stats in the Auckland region haven't changed much.

[Maha]

The road toll dropped significantly when Kiwibiker.co.nz started in 03' and so productivity within the work place...weird I know.

[Eyegasm]

The road toll dropped significantly when Kiwibiker.co.nz started in 03' and so productivity within the work place...weird I know.

I am on a one man mission to get Kiwibiker on our blocked list at work.

Put it in the same basket as Facebook etc...

It'll happen...

[Usarka]

dunno bout their math, but their logic goes: if it's good, take credit for it, if it's bad blame somebody else!

The cops are my favourite for this. Crime stats are down we are awesome! Crime stats are up - because more people are reporting it, we are awesome!

[BoristheBiter]

The cops are my favourite for this. Crime stats are down we are awesome! Crime stats are up - because more people are reporting it, we are awesome!

Is that a bit like certain KB members that say "cops aren't doing their job, cunts. cops are doing their job cunts"?

[CookMySock]

Oh yee of little faith. You can trust our pollies better than that. Tolerance lowered to 4k permanently for a start.
Nah the slower driving that lowers the road toll, if at all, will be at the extreme end, the ones that crash when chased rather than ticketed.
If lower speed continue you will see a raise in drivers dozing off type accidents.

That'd be about right. History is littered with the kings courts fining all and sundry for every little misdemeanor, no matter how trivial.

It'll change if I have anything to do with it.

[Smifffy]

What stands out to me are that the big frops are in the 15-19 yrs, and 25-39 yrs brackets./

Drops too

[Katman]

It'll change if I have anything to do with it.

Let me guess........






......you're going International?

[Berries]

Everyone is going on about using the car less but it's still taking me an hour to get to and from work and the motorways/roads are still full during the day.

You want to get yourself one of them there motorbike things.