Not so crash hot: NSW road toll

Nearly 350 people died on the roads in NSW last year, according to preliminary 2015 road toll figures from Centre of Road Safety.

Drinking and driving

• The number of drivers affected by alcohol in a fatal crash fell 22%, compared to the 2012-14 average.

Younger drivers

• One age group saw the biggest drop in death rates: 21-25 year olds
• There were 26 deaths in 2015, compared to the average of 36 in 2012-14.

Men and women

• There are still more males dying on the roads, compared to females
• Out of 348 deaths on NSW roads, 240 were male and 108 were female
• This means men were more than twice as likely to die on the roads as women
• Female deaths were still 12.5% higher than the 2012-14 average.

Fatal crashes

• There were 324 fatal crashes in NSW in 2015
• Male drivers were involved in 78% of fatal crashes and female drivers in 22% of fatal crashes
• This means male drivers were involved in more than three times as many fatal crashes as female drivers.

Pedestrians and motorcyclists

• More pedestrians, passengers and motorcyclists died on NSW roads in 2015 than last year
• Of all road users, motorcyclists had the second highest number of deaths after vehicle drivers, up 12% on last year
• The highest increase in deaths was among pedestrians, up 48.7%, from 41 deaths in 2014 to 61 in 2015.

Metro v regions

• The number of fatalities in metro areas increased 18% over the 2012-14 average, from 102 to 120
• The number of fatalities in regional areas was 228
• This means nearly twice as many people lost their lives on regional roads than metropolitan roads.

Insurance premiums

If you have experienced a crash, not only your life but your insurance premium may be affected.

Some of the factors insurers consider when setting your greenslip price are:

• How many demerit points you have
• Whether any drivers had an accident in the last 2 years in which they were at fault
• Whether any drivers received a driving conviction or licence suspension in the last 5 years.

Find out more about how to get the cheapest greenslip.