Almost 30% of vehicles registered in South Australia were first registered in another state or territory of Australia, with most of these vehicles originating from New South Wales. This percentage appears to be high, particularly compared to New South Wales where only 12% of registered vehicles were first registered in another state or territory of Australia. This raises the concern as to whether there are any safety related issues pertaining to these interstate transferred vehicles. Specifically, whether perhaps these vehicles are more likely to have been involved in a crash, repaired and then transferred to, and re-registered in South Australia. Previous differences in written-off legislation may have encouraged such transfers. The objective of this study was to determine whether vehicles transferred from New South Wales were in fact more likely to have had a crash in that state prior to being transferred and registered in South Australia, compared to a similar group of vehicles that remained registered in New South Wales. A snapshot of vehicles registered in South Australia was obtained and examined to identify vehicles that were first registered in New South Wales. These identified vehicles were assessed against the New South Wales crash database to determine the number of vehicles involved in a crash in New South Wales in the 12 months prior to their transfer to South Australia. The crash rates of these vehicles were compared to the crash rates of a snapshot of a similar group of registered vehicles in New South Wales - to determine whether there were any discernible differences in the two vehicle cohorts. Two distinct types of passenger vehicle transfers from New South Wales were identified. The majority of these vehicles (N=20,370) were identified as having undergone a pre-registration identity inspection (called an ‘interstate vehicle inspection’) in South Australia as the result of what could be considered a ‘normal’ interstate vehicle transfer from New South Wales. Substantially fewer vehicles (N=531) were identified as repaired write-offs (vehicles that underwent a pre-registration roadworthy inspection, called a ‘wrecked vehicle inspection’). Of the ‘normal’ interstate passenger vehicle transfers from New South Wales 249 were involved in at least one crash in New South Wales in the 12 months prior to being transferred to South Australia, resulting in an overall crash rate of 1.22%. The comparative crash rate of vehicles registered in New South Wales was 1.13%. The difference between these two groups was not statistically significant. Of the repaired write-off vehicles originally registered in New South Wales, 83 were involved in at least one crash in New South Wales in the 12 months prior to being transferred to South Australia, resulting in an overall crash rate of 15.6%. The crash rate of a similar group of vehicles that remained registered in New South Wales was 1.01%. This indicates that repaired write-off vehicles from New South Wales were 15.5 times more likely to have been involved in a crash in New South Wales prior to being transferred to South Australia, compared to vehicles that remained registered in that State. This result is statistically significant but not unexpected. The implication of this, is that while the number of normal vehicles transferred from New South Wales to South Australia appears high — very few vehicles were involved in a previous crash prior to transfer to South Australia, so safety concerns about these vehicles are perhaps unjustified. While there were some vehicles from New South Wales that were involved in high-damage crashes and transferred to South Australia, these appear to be clearly identified as such. The numbers of these vehicles from New South Wales are a diminishing problem due to changes in New South Wales legislation. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting