ACT’s Top 5 Motor Accident Hot Spots Revealed

The Monaro Highway in Tuggeranong has the dubious honour of being the ACT’s worst hot spot for car crashes, according to claims data to be revealed for the first time by leading national car insurer, AAMI, in its forthcoming 2012 AAMI Crash Index.

Canberra (I-Newswire) August 23, 2012 - The Monaro Highway in Tuggeranong has the dubious honour of being the ACT’s worst hot spot for car crashes, according to claims data to be revealed for the first time by leading national car insurer, AAMI, in its forthcoming 2012 AAMI Crash Index.

After examining almost 275,000 accident claims across Australia between July 2011 and June 2012, the top five crash hot spots in the ACT are:
1. Monaro Highway, Tuggeranong
2. Canberra Avenue, Fyshwick
3. Commonwealth Avenue, Canberra
4. Hindmarsh Drive, Chifley
5. Gundaroo Drive, Gungahlin

On average, AAMI sees a crash every second day at the ACT’s top 5 crash hot spots alone, according to AAMI spokesperson, Reuben Aitchison.

“Each of the crash hot spots in Canberra that AAMI has identified are both high-traffic and have relatively high speed limits. The Road Transport Authority does a lot of research and analysis of road conditions to ensure that the safety measures and speed limits in place are appropriate and are there for a reason,” Mr Aitchison added.

“A moment’s lapse in concentration or judgment or letting your impatience get the better of you can easily lead to a crash. Best case scenario you have a fender bender, but unfortunately we also see far worse.”

As part of the 2012 AAMI Crash Index AAMI surveyed* more than 3,700 motorists from across Australia and found that a quarter of drivers admit to having an accident in the last five years. Two thirds (68%) say that accident was avoidable.

Nearly half (45%) of drivers blame other drivers for their accident, while 29% say plain carelessness was a contributing factor in their crash and 28% blame distraction or loss of concentration.

Asking Australians what methods should be employed to make the roads safer and reduce crashes yielded some interesting results, according to Mr Aitchison.

“More than half of the drivers surveyed felt that tougher penalties (58%) and mandatory safe driving courses (56%) would bring down the number of crashes on our roads.”