The research piece, conducted by LHD Lawyers, used 10 years of data and almost 12,000 crash reports from the Australian Road Deaths Database (ARDD) to help road users understand when & how fatal accidents happen.
While overall fatal road accidents have been falling over a 10 year period, a surge in motorcycle road use has led to an increase in deaths.
Sunday is the most dangerous day to be on a motorcycle
21% of all motorcyclist accidents occur on a Sunday, with 41% occurring on the weekend. The least number of accidents occur on Mondays, which equals 10%. Interestingly the amount of accidents increase as the week goes on.
There is a much clearer pattern of weekend accidents for motorcyclists compared to other road users, with the most dangerous days being Wednesday and Thursday for pedal cyclists.
Day of week | All Road Users | Motorcyclists | Pedal Cyclists |
Monday | 12% | 10% | 12% |
Tuesday | 12% | 11% | 15% |
Wednesday | 13% | 11% | 16% |
Thursday | 13% | 12% | 16% |
Friday | 16% | 14% | 11% |
Saturday | 18% | 20% | 15% |
Sunday | 16% | 21% | 14% |
24% of all motorcycle fatalities occur between 2pm and 5pm
Afternoons are without question the most deadly times to be on the road for all users and motorcyclists in particular.
Day of week | All Road Users | Motorcyclists | Pedal Cyclists |
0:00 | 3% | 2% | 1% |
1:00 | 3% | 2% | 0% |
2:00 | 2% | 1% | 0% |
3:00 | 2% | 1% | 1% |
4:00 | 2% | 0% | 1% |
5:00 | 3% | 1% | 3% |
6:00 | 4% | 3% | 8% |
7:00 | 4% | 3% | 8% |
8:00 | 4% | 3% | 11% |
9:00 | 4% | 5% | 7% |
10:00 | 5% | 5% | 7% |
11:00 | 5% | 7% | 5% |
12:00 | 5% | 8% | 3% |
13:00 | 5% | 7% | 3% |
14:00 | 6% | 8% | 5% |
15:00 | 7% | 8% | 6% |
16:00 | 6% | 8% | 7% |
17:00 | 6% | 7% | 6% |
18:00 | 5% | 5% | 6% |
19:00 | 5% | 4% | 3% |
20:00 | 4% | 3% | 3% |
21:00 | 4% | 3% | 3% |
22:00 | 3% | 3% | 1% |
23:00 | 3% | 2% | 1% |
27% of all fatalities occur on roads with 100km speed limit
33% of all road fatalities occur on roads with a 100km per hour speed limit with 27% of these fatalities being motorcyclists. Unsurprisingly, only 1% of deaths occur on roads under 30km per hour.
Road Speed | All Road Users | Motorcyclists | Pedal Cyclists |
30km/h (or under) | 1% | 1% | 2% |
40km/h | 1% | 2% | 2% |
50km/h | 11% | 14% | 23% |
60km/h | 17% | 24% | 29% |
70km/h | 5% | 6% | 5% |
80km/h | 15% | 19% | 15% |
90km/h | 2% | 2% | 1% |
100km/h | 33% | 27% | 17% |
110km/h | 13% | 5% | 4% |
130km/h | 1% | 0% | 0% |
42% of motorcyclist accidents occur in major cities
Unsurprisingly, the largest share of deaths occur in major Australian cities, but 54% of are occurring in regional areas of some kind. Pedal cyclist deaths are far more skewed to city locations.
Type of Area | All Road Users | Motorcyclists | Pedal Cyclists |
Inner Regional | 32% | 33% | 16% |
Major Cities | 34% | 42% | 69% |
Outer Regional | 24% | 21% | 10% |
Remote Australia | 4% | 2% | 2% |
Very Remote Areas | 5% | 3% | 3% |
“The biggest trend we see is consistency,” says John Abouchrouche, Managing Director at LHD Lawyers. “Despite best efforts, an alarming number of Australians continue to lose their lives on our roads each year and even more are seriously injured. With 16% of our clients coming to us after a motoring injury, we see all too often the devastating consequences of poor decision making on the road”.
Read the full statistical report at: https://www.lhd.com.au/lhd-insights/australian-road-death-statistics/ .
