Tuesday, September 11, 2007

More perspective needed

I am just listening to a discussion on talkback about young drivers and lifting the legal age for driving. Here again there is a lot of hysteria about young drivers and fatalities but the statistics are getting better. The performance of 15-19 year-old drivers has improved significantly. Twenty years ago they accounted for 16.9 percent of accidents involving fatalities. Last year they made up 11.7 percent. An even bigger drop applies to 20-24 year-olds from 22.2 to 11.9% percent. Perhaps some attention should be paid to older age groups.

Here's the overall road crash picture;

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Also note that there is currently a small population bulge in the 15-25 age bracket which should statistically mean there is a rise in youth car accidents - which as you show there isn't.

Also, my experience is that youth today have more disposable income - so should be able to use cars more often - still there is no rise in the accident rate. What the hell is wrong with the youth of today?!