Aboriginal road users

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Aboriginal people in South Australia are 3 times more likely to be killed in road crashes than non-Aboriginal people. Many of those killed are young men aged 15 to 35 years.

Aboriginal communities and culture will stay strong if Aboriginal people do the following things to stay alive on the roads.

If you are the driver you need to:

• Be a driver your family feels safe to be with
• Keep a look out on the road ahead and stay within the speed limit
• Slow down for children and older people
• Never drive when you are sleepy or after drinking alcohol. For more information refer to Drink driving and Fatigue (tired drivers)
• Think ahead and plan your rests on long trips and how to get home safely. For more information refer to Roadside Rest Areas and Country driving.
• Wear the seat belt and carry only as many people as there are seatbelts – they double the chances of surviving in a crash.
• Road deaths and serious injuries

Road crashes are the cause of a greater proportion of deaths among Aboriginal people. In 2001, 8.0 % of the total number of deaths for Aboriginal people were due to road crashes, compared to non-Aboriginal people, who had a much lower proportion of 1.2%.

From 1989 to 2001 a total of 922 Aboriginal people were badly injured in road crashes in South Australia - an average of around 70 per year.

Figure 1 – Road deaths as a percentage of all causes of death in the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations of SA, 1994-2001

What were they doing on the road?
Figure 2 – Aboriginal road crash casualties by user type, 1997-2001


Passengers
Many (42%) Aboriginal people who are badly injured are passengers. This is much higher than the proportion of non-Aboriginal passengers injured (22%).

If you are a passenger you need to:

• Not get into a vehicle driven by someone who is sleepy or has been drinking
• Not get into the car unless there is a seatbelt for you to use
• Wear the seatbelt as they double your chances of survival in a crash.
• Put the babies and kids in the right baby or child seat and make sure everyone wears their seat belt

Walking
Another major reason Aboriginal people are put in hospital is being hit by a vehicle while they are walking. About 20% of Aboriginal road users who are put in hospital have such an accident, compared to only 10% of non-Aboriginal pedestrians.

If you are walking:

• If you are walking in the city or a big town, cross busy roads at traffic lights and wait for the green walk sign or light
• If you are walking on country roads at night, stay on the right side of the road and help drivers see you by wearing or carrying something light-coloured.
• Click here for more information on types of road crossings.

Different crashes in different regions
The table below shows the proportion of road crashes that occur in each region in South Australia. These regions are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as being areas that are similar in their social and economic characteristics.

Figure 3 – Percentage distribution of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal road crash casualties by region where crash occurred

About 40% of Aboriginal casualties occur in the Northern and Eyre regions of the state. This may be due to a higher proportion of Aboriginal people living in these areas.

Most non-Aboriginal casualties occur in the Adelaide and Outer Adelaide regions, with fewer than a quarter occurring in rural areas.

Links
Aboriginal road users - differences