Annual performance indicators of enforced driver behaviours in South Australia, 2003

Abstract

The Centre for Automotive Safety Research at the University of Adelaide was commissioned by the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure to produce a report quantifying performance indicators for selected enforced driver behaviours (drink driving, speeding, restraint use) in South Australia for the calendar year 2003. The total number of breath tests conducted in South Australia in 2003 was 11 percent lower than the level in 2002. However, mobile RBT was introduced for the first time, late in the year, and was found to be a better means of detecting drink drivers than static RBT. Also, spending on anti-drink driving publicity increased markedly in 2003. The year 2003 was significant for the reductions in speed limits introduced in South Australia. Total hours of speed detection decreased by 11 percent, however, due to a marked decrease in the hours of operation of speed cameras in the metropolitan area. The reduction in the use of highly efficient speed cameras was the likely explanation for a 27 percent reduction in the number of drivers charged with speeding offences in 2003. An evaluation of the effect of the reduction in the default urban speed limit revealed that speeds decreased on all roads affected by the change but also, by a smaller magnitude, on arterial roads on which the 60 km/h limit was maintained. Restraint offences increased slightly in 2003 but there were no observational surveys conducted to provide an indication of restraint wearing rates, and so the slight increase in offences could have been due to differences in enforcement. Males were again over-represented in restraint offences and in non-restrained vehicle occupants injured in crashes. The amount of money spent on publicity for restraint use in 2003 was significantly greater than previous years.