Speeding In Australia Research Paper

Motor vehicle accidents are costly in terms of deaths, injuries and damage to vehicles (Accidents, Injuries and Fatalities, 2013). In 2011 the road toll came to 1292, these deaths were due to various causes. The most common causes of motor vehicle accidents are speeding (36%), drink driving (20%), and fatigue (16%).
Speeding is a major cause of motor vehicle accidents and remains the biggest killer on our roads. In Australia speeding contributes in about 36% of fatal road accidents. This means on average, around 465 people die each year due to speed-related crashes in Australia (Road Deaths Australia 2011 Statistical Summary, 2011). In NSW alone, speeding is a factor in about 40% of road deaths. This means around 177 people die each year
Of the drink drivers who are killed, 97% are men and 64% are under the age of 40. Drink driving accounts for 20% of all fatal crashes, that figure is even higher (27%) in country areas. In fact, 70 per cent of all fatal drink drive crashes happen in the country (Accident Statistics, 2011). In 2011, there were 71 people killed and 1,176 people injured in crashes involving drivers who were over the legal blood alcohol limit. (Drink Wise, 2012). In 2010, 29% of all fatalities had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of over 0.05g/mL. This also included 21% of fatalities with a BAC 3 times over the legal limit. Drink driving is a risk behaviour. It increases the likely hood of death or injury as people lack the ability to use basic skills such as coordination, reflexes, judgement, balance and concentration when under the influence of alcohol (Alcohol and its Effects, 2012). It is a risk to your personal health and other road uses health as you are more likely to crash and cause death or serious injury. The current campaign for drink driving is Plan B. It has the key messages that people need to plan ahead on how to get home after a night out and that if you drink and drive, you will face consequences. The Plan B campaign reaches all drivers, however it is primarily directed at young males. Male drivers between 17-39 years old make up 64 per cent of drink drivers involved in fatal
A 17 year old driver with a P1 licence is 25% more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a driver over 26 years. The biggest killer of young drivers is speeding and around 80% of those killed are male. Young drivers are over represented in all fatal crashes, including speeding, drink driving and fatigue (Young Drivers, 2011). Despite making up only 15% of drivers, young drivers represent around 36% of annual road fatalities. Just under half of all young Australian deaths are due to motor vehicle accidents (Young Driver Fact Base, 2013). The choices young drivers make vary, some chose protective behaviours some chose risk. Young drivers are more likely to speed, drink drive, drive at night, carry multiple passengers, use mobile phones and violate traffic rules (Risky Driving Behaviour, 2013). Of course, not every driver does this, but those who chose to are taking a risk and can cause harm to their health. The government implement many regulations for learner, P1 and P2 drivers. These include passenger restrictions, modified speed limits, zero BAC, and 120 hours of supervised driving. The government funded initiative ‘Keys2Drive’ has been implemented by the government to give a free driving lesson to learner drivers. This aims to increase young driver’s knowledge and driving ability, so the amount of young fatalities and motor vehicle accidents can be