Annual performance indicators of enforced driver behaviours in South Australia, 2009

Abstract

This report was produced to quantify performance indicators for selected enforced driver behaviours (drink driving, drug driving, speeding and restraint use) in South Australia for the calendar year 2009. The level of random breath testing (RBT) in South Australia in 2009 increased to the highest level of the five year period. The proportion of tests conducted using mobile RBT remained stable. The detection rate, based on evidentiary testing, decreased slightly in 2009 and was lower than in most other Australian jurisdictions. The level of drug testing increased by 70 per cent in 2009. Testing rates per head of population continued to be the highest in Australia. The drug detection rate rose slightly in 2009, as did the level of drug driving among fatally injured drivers. THC (the active component of cannabis) was the most commonly detected drug. The number of hours spent on speed enforcement decreased in 2009. The number of speeding detections decreased for all types of detection devices. Detections per thousand vehicles passing a speed camera decreased, most likely due to driver adaptation to the lowering of the speed limit tolerance in late 2007. Systematic speed surveys found no change in mean travelling speeds but the percentage of vehicles speeding by more than 5 km/h reduced on Adelaide arterial roads. Restraint offences increased by 10 per cent in 2009. Restraint use in serious and fatal crashes remained lower in rural regions than in the metropolitan area. Males were more likely to be charged with a restraint offence and less likely to be wearing a restraint in a fatal or serious injury crash. An observational restraint use survey undertaken during 2009 revealed seat belt usage was at a high level (98 per cent), although males were found to have slightly lower usage rates than females.