Sunday the danger day

SUNDAY is the most dangerous day to be on any Tasmanian road and January is the month with the highest number of deaths.

Analysis obtained by News Corp Australia for the first time has revealed that in Tasmania the deadliest time for motorists to be on the road is between 1pm-2pm on Sundays.

On average across Australia, the cooler winter months are more dangerous, but in all states except NSW and Queensland, the number of deaths in December is above average, with a spike in road fatalities in the month of Christmas.

The analysis from Teletrac Navman, a leading global GPS fleet management provider, has revealed the most dangerous times based on data from the Federal Government’s Australian Road Deaths Database.

The data is based on deaths on the road since 2011 up until July this year when there were 9200 deaths, including 2535 women and 6649 men. Gender could not be determined in seven of the deaths.

It also revealed the average age of those killed was 44.

Most deaths were caused by car crashes and 46.5 per cent of those who died were drivers, while the remaining 19.1 per cent were passengers, followed by motorcyclists (16.6 per cent), pedestrians (13.7 per cent) and cyclists (3.1 per cent).

Chris L’Ecluse, a solutions specialist at Teletrac Navman, said crashes and road deaths occurred mainly at intersections and during trips to and from home and work.

“When drivers are in a familiar environment, they drive in a subconscious state,” he said.

Mr L’Ecluse said drivers need to minimise distractions like talking on a phone, texting, doing make-up or listening to a podcast.

“Ninety-eight per cent of collisions are preventable, but when we compare that to terrorism which we give a lot of attention to because it plays on our fears, really, the greatest risk we face is that steering wheel, it’s not always terrorism,” he said.

“We can’t accept this, by 2030 I’ve seen research done saying that 12 years from now, road trauma will be the fifth leading cause of death globally.”

When drivers are in a familiar environment, they drive in a subconscious state