Are New Zealand roads really safe? What is the most common cause of crashes around the country? Crash Management has the answers and knows what you and your family should consider before hitting the roads this summer.
New Zealand has one of the highest car ownership rates in the world with over 4.5 million vehicles registered on our roads, unfortunately this is also matched with a very high national average car accident rate. When people think about car crashes, bad behaviour including excessive speed, reckless and drunk driving springs to mind. However, most traffic accidents generally involve everyday people going about their everyday business; whether it’s a car park fender-bender or a more serious crash there can be as little as a split second between a near miss and an impact.
Unfortunately, most NZ roads are not world-class and combined with any one of the wide range of common driver errors, accidents do happen – a lot! A recent AA study found that in three quarters of crashes where vehicle occupants were seriously injured the drivers were generally following the road rules, but they made a mistake or a poor decision, or something unexpected happened.
Driver distraction (you’re not concentrating!) was recently recognised as the most common cause of accidents amongst those who drive for a living . This research found that nearly 80% of crashes and 65% of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within the 3 seconds before impact, activities such as mobile phone use and drowsiness were the primary cause of driver inattention.
Vehicle safety starts with the vehicle; a 5-star safety rating is best. Car construction now includes a mind-boggling range of advanced technology and safety features to protect us when accidents do occur. Unfortunately, NZ is a bit behind the eight ball in this area, with a national average vehicle age of 14 years, we compare poorly with Australia’s 10 yr old average and Japan’s 8 years. Older vehicles are perfectly serviceable, but often aren’t equipped with modern safety features so won’t perform as well on the road or in a serious crash.
Most drivers are careful drivers – no one wants to have an accident. But what happens if we do have a crash? Car damage claims involve an enormous amount of inconvenience, frustration, and cost! There is only so much your insurance company can do. They’ll lodge the claim, appoint an assessor and pay the panelbeater. Customers are left to organise quotes, wait for service bookings, negotiate and pay for a courtesy car, and organise everything. This is where Crash Management comes in, we’re the friend you need – before you need us.
The Crash Management service is available 24/7 nationwide and one quick call to 0800 2CRASH is all it takes for the Crash Team to keep you safe and re-mobilise you quickly after an accident. They’ll help with emergency road-side rescue, claims, priority repair scheduling, free replacement vehicles, and customer advocacy. Crash Management is a one-call solution, co-ordinating with insurance companies and brokers, collision repairers and other specialist service providers. We can organise everything for customers, provide regular status updates, and deliver their famous-in-New-Zealand “extreme customer service”. For a range of VERY happy customers and great feedback see www.crashmanagement.co.nz/testimonials.
Protect your vehicle and your family’s safety with Crash Care now – see https://crashmanagement.co.nz/crash-care/.
Crash Management is also NZ premier supplier of fully tailored accident management solutions for fleet operators – talk to us now about your operational requirements or see more at https://crashmanagement.co.nz/corporate-government-fleets/
Tui
Interesting stats and some good advice for the silly-season thanks 🙂
The new Crash Care brand for private cars looks good too. These drivers should appreciate the ability to get access to corporate standard accident management resources and expertise and at a great price!
I’d like to thank the Crash Team for another year of excellent service and assistance, our fleet drivers appreciate your care and attention. And particularly the ability to remobiise drivers quickly.
All the best for 2021! yours sincerely Tui
Claire
I would like to add my positive endorsement for Crash Care. This is a life saver if you are not sure what to do or stranded after running off the road like I was and had to google for a tow truck to help. I am so pleased I found Crash Care. Signing up with the helpful operator could not have been easier and is the best $60 ever spent. I was quickly rescued and delivered to a courtesy car and back on hte road shaken and a bit stirred but back in business the same day. Excellent service highly recommended by me.
Villiami
Crash management is a very good service for professional drivers like couriers. All my work mates know about this now and use this very good service. Also our boss is under consideration of the business programme so all us drivers covered any time we need the crash repairs and loan vans. Very good so I recommend also.
Francis
Very good information thank you. We’ve got our annual subscription for the family cars from the GrabOne promotion so we’re in good hands now with CrashCare.