Male drivers and motorists aged over 65 are most likely to be involved in accidents, and that Friday is the highest risk day to be out on the roads.
These are among the key findings of a special Decade of Driving Report, issued by national insurer AAMI is, as part of its Crash Index.
Analysing more than 4.3 million motor claims across the country from 2014-2023, AAMI’s Decade of Driving Report also seeks to shine a light on the country’s most dangerous crash hotspots.
The report found that older drivers aged 65+ were the most dangerous behind the wheel, with more than a quarter (26%) of claims being attributed to them. Male drivers (54%) were significantly more likely than females (46%) to have a crash.
The report identified several accident hotspots around the country. PIC: Cizza
Friday was the worst day of the week for crashes (16%), followed by Thursday and Wednesday. Surprisingly, the weekend (Sunday then Saturday) were the days Aussies were least likely to have an accident.
The worst time of day for a crash has not changed over the past 10 years – afternoons between 1pm and 4.30pm. Mornings between 9.30am and 1pm, followed by late afternoon from 4.30pm-8pm are the other worst times to be on the road.
The most common collision on Aussie roads were nose to tail crashes (26%). Over the past 10 years, drivers were also frequently failing to give-way (19%), and accidentally damaging cars while parked (17%).
Plenty Road, Bundoora, in Melbourne’s north-east, has the dishonourable title of being Australia’s most dangerous crash hotspot of the past decade. Others on the road of shame were:
Leah James, AAMI Motor Claims Manager, said she hoped the report would bring awareness to where, when and how accidents occur, enabling Aussie drivers to be better informed and educated on how to drive more safely.
“For the past three decades, the AAMI Crash Index has been educating drivers on the importance of using safe driving habits and avoiding behaviours that lead to accidents,” she said. “However, we recognise that it’s not just the responsibility of those behind the wheel, which is why we have shared our crash data with Governments at all levels to help identify and plan for future road projects, as well as drive policy changes and road improvements at identified hotspots.”
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We’re not surprised that Friday is the worst day for accidents.
Too many workers in a hurry for the working week to finish & the weekend to begin.
We stay off the roads on Friday afternoons if possible.
We also try to stay off the roads during school drop off & pick up times.
That’s why my rule of thumb is 10-2. On the road by 10 and off by 2.
A good rule, well thought out.
How many of the accidents for over 65 were contributed to by a medical condition that would have been revealed in the “Fitness to Drive” assessment? The Fitness to Drive assessment is an unnecessary requirement that places massive burdens on the already overloaded medical system and costs the Government a fortune.
Is that 64% of the 26%. What are the stat’s for under 25year old.
I was surprised that it was no longer the youngest drivers n the highest category. Is that because we are training them better before they get their licence? Plus a much stricter no drink driving. It has all worked!
If over 65’s are only 26% 0f crashes the rest are pretty bad with the others being 74%. !!!!
A totally meaningless bit of journalism without better qualification.
To true. They don’t mention how many of the 65 yo drivers were not at fault. Maybe not as high as 65%
I agree, more information required. These surveys love to direct the attention to older drivers but let’s get some facts on the story to be fair
Most surveys I have been involved with over many years have questions slanted and are written to get the desired answer of the Surveyor!
Surveys,whether political, motoring clubs, insurance companies and everything in between can be and are manipulated.
Am I missing something here, “The report found that older drivers aged 65+ were the most dangerous behind the wheel, with more than a quarter (26%) of claims being attributed to them.” So who is responsible for the other 74% of claims?
Must be a lot of motorbike riders over 65. Or were. Insurance comp want to get at us.
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics – Mark Twain.
Yet another example of data manipulation by the media cowering to their masters.
Focus on the 74% of crashes that are attributed to those under 65.
Over 65 …. so what is the percentage of van owners under 60 compared to the younger ages. Could be over 65 has the highest number ov van ow
Thats 26% over a possible 20 to 25 years age range. Are all the other statistics based on individual ages or similar age ranges. . You would also need to know the number of driver in each age group. Doesn’t make sense to me.
As they say, lies, damned lies and statistics.
You can have statistics say what you want them to say.
We need to ask much deeper questions of this.
The study is by an insurance company based on the claims they have received.
I would argue that most over 65 year olds have comprehensive insurance and therefore if they have a bingle no matter how small will make a claim whereas the under 25 group often are driving uninsured as they cannot afford it so the number of claims are far less even though that group is always the highest accident prone group in practically all other data and studies done by road safety groups.
The other question that must be asked is who was at fault in accidents involving over 65’s if it were a multicar accident.
So arguing that over 65’s are worse drivers based solely on the number of claims is misleading at best and a complete corruption of the facts at worst.
Great post Greg, as always.
This report is just stating a well known, but poorly acknowledged, fact. Accident figures state that over 65s have the second highest accident rate for time spent on the road, followed by 40 to 50 year olds (the parents who teach our kids to drive). Accident rates for time on the road for under 25s are one of the lowest rates, but under 25s figure highly in raw accident numbers simply because they spend more time driving than any other age group. Male driver incidents outnumber female driver incidents for the same reason. AAMI’s high over 65 accident statistic could be because AAMI is an insurance company used by a larger proportion of older drivers, which would skew their figures..