Key points summary: Consequences of road crashes

* Road crashes cost the community a lot of money.

* Most crash victims don’t die – only about 1 in 50 in NSW – but many live with the physical and
mental consequences for the rest of their lives.
* Most costs goes to the long term care of injured people (24 per cent).
* Loss of quality of life is the next biggest cost at 21 per cent.

Key points summary: Risk Management

* Confidence is OK, but overconfidence can make you believe that you are a better driver than you
really are.
* Over confidence makes you underestimate the risk of negative outcomes such as crashes or being
injured or killed.
* Male drivers are more likely to rate themselves as better than others – this may encourage over
confidence and crash risk.
* The risk of getting booked for a traffic offence is more than 2000 times greater than being killed in
a crash.

Key points summary: Causes of crashes and acceptance of mistakes

* Many drivers involved in crashes don’t want to admit that they might have done the wrong thing.
* ‘External attribution’ is where you blame other things or other people for what happens.
* ‘Internal attribution’ is when you accept blame or the reason that things happen to yourself.
* The best situation is where you can accept the things that are down to you.

Key points summary: Motivation and driving

* Motivation varies across people and across tasks – this applies to driving too.
* Drivers who feel pressured by time or deadlines are more likely to speed and take risks to get from
A to B quickly – Even people who normally drive more carefully may do things that are
dangerous.
* Young male drivers are more likely than women to let their emotions dictate how they drive.
* Some people are motivated to drive fast and take deliberate risks to get a thrill or a buzz or just
relieve boredom. Their crash risk is much higher than other drivers’ and they are more likely to
get booked by the police.
* Driving is motivated mainly by the desire to get from A to B as quickly as possible, but no one
wants to die, get hurt or get booked in the process.
* You need to recognise that motivation affects how you drive.

Key points summary: Risk taking and driving

* People vary in their willingness or need to takes risks in life and when they drive.
* Drivers with high sensation seeking scale (SSS) scores are mostly male and may be more willing
to take risks when driving and be at greater crash risk.
* Risk taking may be OK in other activities but not when driving on the road.
* Risk taking on the road is irresponsible.
* All drivers make mistakes at some time, most of them unintentional.
* Aggressive driving, including retaliating to the bad driving of others, is dangerous and increases
the chance of a crash – it may also get you into trouble with the police.
* Negligent driving causing injury or death carries a jail term of up to 18 months.
* Dangerous driving causing injury or death carries a jail term of up to 10 years.
Key points summary: Alcohol and driving
* Alcohol is a contributing factor in about18 per cent of fatal accidents and 6 per cent of those
causing injury.
* More than half the drivers killed have a BAC of 0.15 or more – three times the legal limit of 0.05
for full licence holders.
* Staying below 0.05 is hard as not everyone takes the same number of alcoholic drinks to reach this
limit.
* Women and people of both sexes who don’t weigh a lot get to higher BACs faster.
* Men are more likely to drink and drive and more likely to be involved in alcohol-related crashes.
* Alcohol reduces your ability to concentrate and to look for and respond to hazards when driving.
* Alcohol slows your reflexes when you need to take action such as braking.
* Alcohol increases the risk of a crash. Even at a 0.05, crash risk is about twice what it is at zero.
* The safest BAC for driving is zero.
* About 30 per cent of fatal accidents in ‘high alcohol hours’ are alcohol-related.
* High alcohol hours are mostly weeknights (particularly Thursday and Friday nights) and
weekends.
* Drivers with alcohol in their blood are not only more likely to crash, but more likely to die if
severely injured in a crash.
* Staying with a zero BAC when driving gives you an edge. It is the safest BAC for driving
regardless of your licence type.

Key points summary: Other drugs and driving

* Drugs other than alcohol, including legal medicines and illegal drugs, can affect your ability to
drive safely.
* All medicines or legal drugs that may affect your driving are clearly labelled with warning labels.
* Many drugs and medicines interact with each other (and alcohol) in a way that might affect your
ability to drive safely.
* Your doctor or pharmacist (chemist) can advise on which medicines affect your ability to drive.
* Illegal drugs carry no warnings and may affect your driving.
* Penalties for driving under the influence of drugs include heavy fines, loss of licence and even jail.

Key points summary: Fatigue and driving

* Fatigue refers to the experience of being ‘sleepy’, ‘tired’ or ‘exhausted’.
* Fatigue can severely impair your judgment when driving.
* Fatigue is involved in about 20 per cent of fatal accidents in NSW.
* Fatigue operates a bit like alcohol in the way it increases the risk of being in a crash.
* High risk times for fatigue-related crashes are early morning between 4 am and 8 am and in the
afternoon between 12 noon and 2 pm.
* Most drivers involved in fatigue-related crashes are male.
* Fatigue-related crashes are more likely to occur during public and school holidays.
* The only effective way to avoid fatigue is to get plenty of sleep. Fresh air, coffee and loud music
won’t work.

Key points summary: Driving distractions and crash risk

* Distractions divert attention from the driving task and increase the risk of crashing.
* At least 14 per cent of all crashes involve the driver being distracted by something.
* Distractions that happen outside the vehicle account for about 30 per cent of crashrelated
distractions.
* Distractions that happen inside the vehicle add up to about 36 per cent of crash related
distractions.
* Distractions carry the highest risk when you are trying to do something complicated.
* Reducing distractions inside the vehicle reduces your crash risk.
Key points summary: Managing risk in the driving environment
* The combined contribution of human error and environmental factors accounts for about 26 per
cent of crashes.
* Adverse conditions like bad roads and bad weather rarely cause crashes on their own – about 3 per
cent of all crashes.
* Speeding, drink driving and aggressive/risky driving behaviour are more common at night.
* Controlling your speed and the space around your vehicle are the main things that you can do to
manage risk.
* Driving with your headlights on low beam in daytime makes your vehicle easier to see and
reduces your crash risk.

Key points summary: Expectancies and the unexpected

* Drivers often rely on expectancies when they drive.
* Other drivers will make mistakes and do things that you don’t expect.
* To cope with the unexpected, use a scanning routine and keep a safe distance from other road
users.
* Give yourself plenty of time and space to cope.
* Make your vehicle easier to see – drive with your headlights on.

Key points summary: Looking out for yourself and others

* Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are vulnerable road users – they have little protection in the
event of a collision with a vehicle.
* People under 16 and older people aged 60 years or more are particularly at risk as pedestrians.
* Look out for pedestrians and cyclists – give them plenty of room when approaching or passing
them.
* Motorcycles can be hard to see and can be hidden by other larger vehicles – check your
blindspots.
* Riders of motorcycles are 27 times more likely to be killed than drivers of other types of vehicle.
* In many crashes involving motorcycles the other driver claims not to have seen the motorcyclist.
* The risk of being killed in a crash with a truck are about three times higher than in one involving
another car.
* Don’t try to compete with trucks and buses.
* Give them plenty of room – particularly when they are making a turn or braking.

The three basic hazard perception skills are:

* Keeping a safe distance from other vehicles.
* Selecting safe gaps when turning, crossing traffic or changing lanes.
* Scanning for hazards ahead, behind and to the side.