A major Victorian road has been crowned Australia’s most dangerous crash hotspot as a new report reveals the group considered most dangerous behind the wheel.
Plenty Road in Melbourne’s north-east topped the list for the most crashes between 2014 and 2023, according to AAMI’s Crash Index Decade of Driving report.
Data compiled by the insurer ranked the worst car accident hotspots across Australia, based on 4.3 million car claims across the country between 2014 and 2023.
AAMI Motor claims manager Leah James said the data follows a speed reduction trial on the busy road in 2022, based on AAMI data.
“Following the introduction of the reduced speed limit, our data showed a 26 per cent reduction in the number of crashes, demonstrating the positive impact the AAMI Crash Index has had in saving lives,” Ms James said.
The Hume Highway in Liverpool, New South Wales, ranked second on the list of hotspots, followed by the Bruce Highway in Queensland, the Albany Highway in Western Australia, Canberra Avenue in the ACT, Marion Road in South Australia, Sandy Bay Road in Tasmania and the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory.
Ms James said all the hotspots except Sandy Bay Road in Tasmania had held their positions for more than five of the past 10 years, noting the roads were busy “but also dangerous”.
Plenty Road (pictured) in Melbourne ranked first as the worst place for car accidents
Men were more likely to be in an accident than women (54 percent compared to 46 percent), while drivers aged 65 and older were the most dangerous behind the wheel.
The most common collision was head-on at 26 percent, while failure to yield accounted for 19 percent of accidents and accidental damage to cars while parked accounted for 17 percent.
“Head-on collisions and failure to yield are consistently the leading types of accidents, indicating that as a nation, we have a propensity for distracted driving and tailgating,” James said.
The worst times of day for an accident to occur were determined to be the afternoons between 1:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., followed by 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
“This coincides with school pick-up time and is usually a time when roads are busy, patience is running out, drivers are tired from the day and racing to get home or to their next destination,” Ms James said.
Drivers over 65 are the most dangerous drivers in Australia
“It is during these times that drivers must be alert and attentive behind the wheel to avoid bumper-to-bumper collisions or accidents involving a child.”
The worst day of the week for accidents was also identified: Friday was the worst with 16 percent, followed by Thursday and Wednesday.
Saturday and Sunday were the days with the best results.
The data has been shared with federal, state and territorial governments “to help identify and plan future road projects, as well as drive policy changes and road improvements in identified hotspots.”
