The report provides a detailed overview of road trauma occurring on rural Victorian roads from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2001. The report provides a snapshot of the rural road trauma problem. Comparisons with road trauma in the metropolitan area have not been made and trends have not been presented. Estimation of crash and injury risks on a population or distance travelled basis was beyond the scope of this project. Crashes in low speed zones, at intersections and involving multiple vehicles were common but less severe than other crashes. Crashes on curves, single vehicle crashes and pedestrian crashes were less common but more severe. More than a quarter of the crashes involved an impact with a roadside object, commonly a tree or a pole, and almost half of these crashes resulted in fatal or serious injury. Male drivers were over-involved in crashes and young drivers were over-involved in single vehicle crashes. Both the patterns of crash types and crash severity differed substantially among rural cities, rural towns & other areas and remote areas, confirming the need to examine the issues in these areas separately. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting