The Age of Light Vehicles Involved in Road Fatalities

Following a period of steady decline in national road tolls, recent consecutive increases in annual road fatalities in both Australia and New Zealand have caused community concern, with policy makers and road safety organisations working to ascertain reasons for this trend reversal. The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) sought to build a greater understanding of road crashes and potential causes for the recent trend reversal and began monitoring the age of light vehicles involved in road crashes where an occupant was fatally injured. The study used Australian and New Zealand crash data identifying the age of vehicles involved in road fatalities and compared the age distribution amongst those vehicles with the age distribution of vehicles in the registered / licensed vehicle fleets. The results found that older vehicles were consistently over-represented in occupant fatalities over the period 2012 to 2016 and that it is possible the average age of vehicles involved in occupant fatality crashes may be increasing.