Monday is the worst day to be on the roads in Sydney, in particular the west and inner west
MONDAY afternoons are the most dangerous time to be on the road in Sydney, insurance data reveals. More crashes occur in the inner west and Western Sydney at the beginning of the week than any other day, GIO figures reveal.
NSW
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MONDAY afternoons are the most dangerous time to be on the road in Sydney, insurance data reveals.
More crashes occur in the inner west and Western Sydney at the beginning of the week than any other day, GIO figures reveal.
The risk is highest between school pick-up time and the end of the working day, when the roads are clogged and drivers are tired.
But the statistics show a different story in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, where most accidents happen on Friday afternoons.
Australian Road Safety Foundation spokesman Russell White said more education for parents and children was needed, with peak road injury times clashing with end-of-school hours.
“(Education) is not something we do at all. We should be more aware,” Mr White said.
Mr White said commuters need to remain aware of their surroundings and monitor their fatigue.
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“Human beings have a “slump” between 3pm and 5pm. We need to reschedule and minimise our road activity at that time,” he said.
These findings come on the back of the state’s worst road toll in recent years, with 392 people dying on NSW roads in 2017.
In the past year there have also been several serious after-school accidents in Sydney’s west.
A 13-year-old boy suffered severe head injuries when he was hit by a car while walking home from school in Colyton, and a six-year-old boy was struck by a car outside his Haberfield school last March.
And just this week a six-year-old girl was left with critical head injuries after she was hit by a van on Smithfield’s busy The Horsley Drive.
With Sydneysiders facing increasingly long commutes, GIO spokeswoman Alexandra Foley said that tired and inattentive drivers could be at fault, especially at the end of the week. “A split-second loss of concentration or misjudgment is all it takes to cause an accident that can lead to devastating long-term injuries,” she said.