- Road toll
Road toll is the term used in some countries for the number of deaths caused annually by road accidents.The term is in common and official use in
Australia andNew Zealand .New Zealand
New Zealand reports an annual nationwide road toll, plus special period figures for a number of holiday periods:
*Christmas -New Year : between 4pm on 24th December and 8am on 3rd January (4th January if January 1 or 2 falls on a weekend).
*Easter - from 4pm on the day beforeGood Friday and 8am the following Tuesday.
*Queen's Birthday - from 4pm on the Friday before the first Monday in June to 8am the following Tuesday.
* Labour Weekend - from 4pm on the Friday before the last Monday in October to 8am the following Tuesday.The road toll includes deaths which occur within 7 days of a road accident as a result of injuries received in the accident. Deaths of pedestrians and cyclists are included, but deaths from vehicular accidents not on legal roads (e.g. on farms) are excluded.
The New Zealand road toll exhibited a downward trend between 1990 and 2002, which was attributed to a number of factors:
* A reduction in drink driving, due to public education and strict policing.
* Improvements in vehicle safety.
* An increase in the wearing ofseat belt s due to public education
* Hazard mitigation works on dangerous stretches of road.Since 2002, the main focus of road policing changed, concentrating mainly on reduction of average road speed. Despite extensive public education, heavy policing and a marked improvement in the road fleet, the downward trend previously evident has ceased. Many commentators state the current policy is counter-productive and advocate a return to a three-pronged road safety effort, with education and engineering taking precedence over enforcement.Fact|date=April 2008
It has become a tradition to mark the sites of fatal accidents on highways and rural roads with small white wooden crosses. There has been public debate over this as Land Transport New Zealand is considering removing the crosses on some roads, claiming that they constitute a hazard via distraction. Others claim that they remind drivers to take care.
Australia
In Australia the road toll is reported at a state level. Similar to New Zealand, Australia also reports national figures for special holidays, though usually only for the Christmas and Easter holiday periods.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
