Over the past five years, more South Australians have been killed on regional roads than in metropolitan areas, with motorists aged between 16 and 24 years two and a half times more likely to die or be seriously injured in a rural crash.
The numbers crunched on regional road deaths and serious injury is astounding, with males two and a half times more likely to crash than females.
Motor Accident Commission (MAC) corporate communications manager Megan Cree said country driving increased opportunities for drivers to become fatigued or distracted.
“Country driving increases opportunities to become fatigued or distracted,” she said.
“There are also the additional risks of overtaking other vehicles, varying road conditions and animals on the road.
“Driving is a complex task in any environment, and it is imperative that people are aware of the different risks posed by country driving,”
Crashes in rural areas commonly occur on high speed roads and involve a single vehicle in a scenario such as running off the road and hitting a fixed object.
Another major factor of regional road deaths is the number of vehicle occupants who were not wearing seatbelts at the time of impact.
Ms Cree said statistics over the five years, 2011 to 2015, showed 57 per cent of fatalities and 44pc of serious injuries from road crashes occurred in rural areas.
She said the data also showed that males sustained the highest number of fatal and serious injuries across the regions and represented 71pc of all fatalities and 65pc of serious injuries.
“On average, men are almost two and a half times more likely to be killed in a car crash than females,” Ms Cree said.
