Road toll: new study reveals a simple fix

IT’S a simple idea but it has the potential to save thousands of lives on Australia’s roads in the next 20 years.

SAFETY researchers say there’s a simple way to cut the road toll: encourage people to trade in their old bangers.

Research commissioned by the Australian Automobile Association says reducing the average age of the Australian car park could save thousands of lives.

Cutting the average age of the national passenger car fleet by just a single year, from its current level of just below 10 years, would prevent more than 1300 deaths over the next 20 years.

This graphic image of a 1998 Toyota Corolla and 2015 Toyota Corolla crashing into each other highlights the dangers of older vehicles. Pic: Supplied.

It would also mean savings of more than $19.7 billion on road trauma and emissions.

The new numbers come from the Monash University Accident Research Centre, Economic Connections, and Pekol Traffic and Transport.

“Getting Australians into newer cars will deliver real safety and environmental benefits for the community,” says the chief executive of the AAA, Michael Bradley.

The average age of passenger cars today is 9.8 years and light commercials are even older at 10.4.

The AAA says improving those numbers by a year would cut the number of road crashes by 5.4 per cent.

Newer cars are better at protecting people in a crash and also better at avoiding one. Pic: Supplied.

Automotive safety has improved markedly in the past decade, with breakthroughs in occupant protection and crash avoidance.

Side and curtain airbags are now commonplace as is stability control, which can correct a skid if a driver loses control of their vehicle.

Australia’s independent crash test body, ANCAP, says older vehicles are over-represented in fatal crashes.

Airbags have improved survival rates. Picture: Supplied

ANCAP says that while vehicles built before 2000 or earlier account for just 20 per cent of the registered vehicle fleet, they’re involved in 33 per cent of fatal crashes.

Vehicles built between 2011 and 2016 make up 31 per cent of the fleet yet are involved in just 13 per cent of fatal crashes.

The head of ANCAP, James Goodwin, says older cars are also more likely to be driven by at-risk drivers.

“It is unfortunate we tend to see our most at-risk drivers — the young and inexperienced, as well as the elderly and more frail — in the most at-risk vehicles,” Mr Goodwin says.

A pole test shows the value of side airbags. Picture: Supplied

The AAA is using the research to pressure the Federal Government for reductions in automotive taxation with a major pre-budget submission in Canberra to boost sales of newer and safer vehicles.

“The combined impact of the taxes and tariffs will add almost $5 billion to the price of new cars in Australia over the next four years,” Bradley says.

“We have called on the Government to remove the five per cent tariff on imported vehicles and the Luxury Car Tax.”

The AAA also wants more spending on infrastructure and has asked that at least half of the revenue gathered from fuel excise be dedicated to transport improvement.

“The nation needs to make significant investment in road networks to reduce congestion and improve productivity for the future. Australians need a transparent link between excise and infrastructure investment,” Bradley says.