October 12, 2017
In the lead up to the traditionally “unlucky” Friday the 13th, an insurance company has shared research which shows most car accidents across Australia occur on Fridays.
The company’s study of accident claims found that most collisions (16 per cent) occurred on Fridays and were most likely to happen between the peak periods of 8:00am-9:00am and 3:00pm–6:00pm.
“Friday is the most likely day of the week for crashes because there are generally increased levels of traffic on the roads, particularly in the afternoon periods with the school commute and many motorists opting to get away early for the weekend,” CEO Frank Costigan, from the South African-owned Youi group, said.
“Driver inattention is a major factor in road crashes and may also be a further contributing factor in the increased number of Friday crashes, as many people at the end of their working week may be thinking about their weekend plans and not their driving.
“Alarmingly, our claims research showed accidents happening on weekends were significantly more severe than on other days of the week with damage to cars on a Friday night, Saturday or Sunday being 9 per cent greater when compared to crashes on other days.”
The study also found that when a crash occurred between 8:00pm–7:00am, the damage was 37 per cent higher than during daylight hours for all days of the week.
This suggests night driving can be challenging for many motorists.
“Friday nights and the weekends are busy social times when we often get out and about with friends and family,” Mr Costigan said.
“Unfortunately, there’s increased road safety dangers associated with this socially active period as our research showed 41 per cent of crashes on a Friday night and across weekends contained a passenger, a 53 per cent increase on other days of the week.”
The full study is available online.
Editorial note: There used to be a road safety campaign in Queensland called “Lights On Friday” which encouraged drivers to switch on their headlights all day on Fridays to make their vehicles more visible to other traffic. Maybe it is time it returned?
