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Paper Title:
The Canberra Paradox
and its Implications - a safe city whose drivers have a relatively
high crash rate
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Authors:
Peter Cairney, Thanuja
Gunatillake
Abstract:
The objective of this
research was to determine the size of the crash problem for ACT
drivers and to compare that with the size of the crash problem in
the ACT. Crashes in NSW between 1992 and June 1999 which involved
drivers holding ACT licences or vehicles registered in the ACT were
identified. Approximately as many fatalities occurred to ACT licensed
drivers or vehicles outside the ACT as happen within the ACT. Data
on injury accidents was available only between 1992 and 1995, the
number of serious injury accidents involving ACT drivers or vehicles
in NSW was approximately double the number of serious injury crashes
occurring in the ACT. The majority of fatal crashes occur along
the major highways servicing Sydney and the major tourist destinations
within the State. Thirty percent occur closer to home, within 100
km of Canberra. However, the highest concentration of crashes of
all severities is in Sydney, particularly those involving pedestrian
and intersection type collisions. In contrast, only 10% of the crashes
in the ACT involved only non-ACT drivers or vehicles. These findings
raise the question of how to protect populations of road users in
contrast to the provision of safe infrastructure. In particular,
this highlights the issues faced by many local government road safety
programs where either many crashes involve drivers who are passing
through the area and who cannot greatly be influenced, or many crashes
involving local people happen in other local government areas so
it is difficult to adequately access the results of programs. Much
more attention should be given to monitoring the road safety record
of populations of road users in addition to the continuing monitoring
of crashes at different geographical locations.
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