Grey nomads who regularly complain they are commonly ‘tailgated’ by other road users will not be surprised to learn that a major safety survey has identified following too closely behind another vehicle as a major accident ‘causer’.
The just-released annual AAMI Crash Index also identifies everyday driving habits like braking late, misjudging turns, and failing to anticipate changing traffic conditions as seriously problematic behaviour.
The insurer analysed more than 394,000 motor insurance claims lodged across Australia between January 1 and December 31, 2025, to find trends and patterns.
Rather than identifying just one dangerous road, the data painted a broader picture of where and how Australians are crashing.
The open road can look inviting ... but care is always required. PIC: AAMI
The nation’s worst hotspots shared strikingly similar characteristics: busy arterial roads, traffic lights, major intersections, shopping precincts, car parks and heavy stop-start traffic.
These are roads where congestion, merging traffic, turning vehicles and momentary lapses in concentration create the perfect conditions for everyday driving mistakes.
The driver category with the most crashes was males aged 65 and over, the worst day for accidents was Friday, and the most common crash types were: nose to tail (28%); failure to give way (23%); and collision with a stationary object (22%).
While the AAMI Crash Index revealed where Australians were crashing, data from thousands of drivers using the AAMI Driver Rewards (ADR) technology through the AAMI App provided insights into how they’re driving … and where they can improve to become safer on our roads.
ADR tracks five key driving behaviours; speeding, distraction, acceleration, braking and cornering, and provides drivers with a score out of 100, offering a unique snapshot of real-world driving habits across the country.
Australians performed well when it came to speed, recording an average speeding score of 95.9 out of 100. Drivers also scored strongly for avoiding phone distraction, with an average score of 87.6. However, acceleration (78.6), braking (77.9) and cornering (76.3) were drivers’ lowest scoring behaviours, suggesting many motorists could improve by looking ahead, leaving more space between them and the car in front, and taking greater care when navigating busy intersections.
AAMI Motor Prevention Manager, Mary Kennedy, said the patterns were unmistakable.
“The hotspots topping our list all share similar traits — heavy traffic, multiple lanes, traffic lights, major intersections, shopping precincts and constant turning movements, where even a momentary lapse in concentration can lead to a crash,” she said. “Most claims aren’t high-speed collisions … they are everyday bingles like nose-to-tail crashes, failure to give way, and collisions with stationary objects, which means they are also among the most preventable.”
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I always leave a good braking distance between my vehicle (whether towing my van or not). But people constantly leave the moment to merge till the last moment the jump into the space even if the traffic is already braking. This means that I have to brake harder. Drivers need to look in their mirrors before jumping in. There seems to be an idea that I can put my indicator on and change lanes without any consequence. At times I have been halfway along the side of a vehicle and they throw their indicator on and start moving over straight away.