Dunedin is ranked one of the worst places in New Zealand for road accidents that result in death and serious injury, and the statistics may drive a new safety-oriented transport strategy from the Dunedin City Council.
The New Zealand Transport Agency has compiled lists ranking the 71 local authority areas across 12 categories deemed to be contributing factors to road crashes that cause death and serious injury.
Dunedin City is ranked third overall across all the casualty-incurring categories, despite Otago being ranked sixth among the the agency's 13 "road safety" regions.
Crashes causing death or serious injury at urban intersections were more likely to happen in Dunedin than anywhere else.
Pedestrians in Dunedin were the second-most likely in New Zealand to be involved in road accidents.
Dunedin was third for crashes involving older drivers and for those involving motorcycles, and fourth for accidents involving cyclists and younger drivers.
Distracted drivers in Dunedin ranked sixth.
It was thought the Dunedin City Council could use these statistics to apply for more funding from the Ministry of Transport to implement safety initiatives.
DCC transportation planning manager Sarah Connolly recently told members of the Otago Regional Council transport committee the statistics had prompted a rethink about how the council could deliver better strategies for road safety.
She told the Otago Daily Times this week she was not surprised by the agency's findings for Dunedin.
There were some other factors applicable to Dunedin and these also influenced some of the crash-statistic rankings, she said.
Dunedin had a large percentage of young drivers, representing a bigger share of population compared with other cities, given the 20,000 students at the university, Ms Connolly said.
Despite Dunedin being fourth in the category of young drivers, the student population contributed to an over-represented profile for crashes in other categories, such as those involving pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists, she said.
ORC transport committee chairman Stephen Woodhead agreed with the summation.
"Most cities of Dunedin's size you would have a uni[versity] of about 5000 students, not 20,000," he said.
Dunedin's lack of congestion was another factor which contributed to the high incidence of urban intersection crashes, Ms Connolly said.
Traffic congestion meant motorists travelled slower and had more time to react and brake at intersections.
There were also many busy intersections in Dunedin, she said.
An agency spokesman said the national rankings for the register were based on information in the agency's crash analysis system database taken over a period of five years, from 2006-10.
Senior Sergeant Steve Larking, of Dunedin, said the Government's "safer journeys" road safety strategy was focused on several areas of concern, such as those identified in the agency's statistics.
"Police are constantly targeting areas of concern in an effort to reduce crashes and the resulting trauma that they cause," he said.
Ms Connolly said transportation planning staff members were forming several strategies to improve road safety.
A report outlining some preliminary initiatives would be tabled to councillors soon.
