More road deaths happen in older second hand cars
PARENTS are being encouraged to refer to a new safety ratings guide before buying their children a used car with worrying statistics showing the danger caused by driving older vehicles.
NSW
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DRIVERS have been urged not to shrink on safety to save on cost when buying a second-hand car and avoid buying a model that’s more than 15 years old.
Shocking data reveals 40 per cent of people killed in road crashes in NSW were in a vehicle that was 15 years old or older.
But cars less than five years old account for just 15 per cent of fatal crashes each year.
Roads Minister Melinda Pavey implored drivers — especially young people — to buy as new a car as possible.
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“The positive part of it is that cars have never been cheaper,” she said.
The government will today release the latest Use Car Safety Ratings to guide car buyers. The system rates the safest second-hand car with “five stars”.
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“In one of our tests, the driver of the 5 star rated Mazda Ute would have walked away unhurt.
The driver of the 2 star rated Toyota would probably have received severe head and brain
injuries or even been killed,” Mrs Pavey said.
“Often parents think about getting a cheaper car for their child but the good news is you can get a cheap car that is a five star rated car. That’s what you should be focusing on when buying a car or helping your kids to buy a car.”
“Because our young drivers are the most inexperienced they should be the ones put in the safest cars.”
The ratings reveal many of the safest cars can be bought for under $10,000 and that a driver of the worst vehicle rated in the list is 10 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured than a driver in the safest.
The 5 star rated Ford Mondeo from 2007 — 2015 can be bought for as cheap as $2,500.
Cars which received a one star rating for safety include the Hyundai Accent (years 00
-06) Holden Cruze (years 02 — 06) and Ford Fiesta WD (years 04 -08).
Monash University Accident Research Centre, in partnership with the NSW Centre for Road
Safety, the NRMA and other members of the Vehicle Safety Research Group, analysed
records from more than 8 million vehicles involved in road crashes and 2 million injured road
users in Australia and New Zealand between 1987 and 2016 to produce the ratings.
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