Australia’s worst roads revealed for 2020: Melbourne tops list again
The latest data from insurance company AAMI has revealed eight of Australia’s 10 worst car crash locations are all in Melbourne.The annual AAMI Crash Index identified Plenty Road, Bundoora in Melbourne’s north as the country’s worst location for collisions, for the third year in a row. Springvale Road in both Glen Waverley and Springvale in Melbourne’s east took out second and third place on the index.
Sydney still took out two spots in the national top ten, with the Hume Highway at Liverpool in Sydney’s south west coming in at number four and Pennant Hills Road, Pennant Hills taking out ninth spot.
The 2020 AAMI Crash Index analyses more than 350,000 motor accident insurance claims across the country from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 to reveal the country’s top ten accident locations as well as trends.
Top 10 worst roads for 2020
Rank | Road | Suburb | City |
1 | Plenty Road | Bundoora | Melbourne |
2 | Springvale Road | Glen Waverley | Melbourne |
3 | Springvale Road | Springvale | Melbourne |
4 | Hume Highway | Liverpool | Sydney |
5 | Cooper Street | Epping | Melbourne |
6 | Clayton Road | Clayton | Melbourne |
7 | Doncaster Road | Doncaster | Melbourne |
8 | Bell Street | Preston | Melbourne |
9 | Pennant Hills Road | Pennant Hills | Sydney |
10 | Bell Street | Coburg | Melbourne |
AAMI spokesperson Paul Sofronoff said that they are seeing a growing trend around the country with hotspots and the types of road environments.
“We see that a majority of the hotspots identified are generally busy major arterial roads, that intersect with local streets. When you combine this with heavy traffic and frequent stopping, it is a perfect recipe for vehicle collisions.”
The Crash Index data revealed that the most common type of crash at the majority of the top hotspots throughout the country were nose to tail collisions. Except in Hobart where car park dings rated higher and in Perth driver failure to give way ranked first.
Accident claims data showed nationally the most dangerous day of the week for crashes across the country was Friday with afternoon peak hour being the worst time. Each capital city has it's own worst day of the week and time of day for accidents.
Most dangerous day of the week to drive
City | Day of week | Time of Day |
Melbourne | Thursday | Afternoon |
Sydney | Wednesday and Thursday | Evening Peak |
Brisbane | Wednesday | Morning |
Adelaide | Monday and Thursdays | Afternoon |
Canberra | Monday | Afternoon |
Hobart | Tuesday and Wednesday | Morning |
Perth | Tuesday | Afternoon |
The crash data also saw a decrease in accidents across the country in April during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown. However, since May, claims data revealed that crashes steadily increased in all capital cities returning to pre-pandemic levels, except Melbourne.
Mr Sofronoff warned motorists that despite roads potentially carrying fewer cars due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no room for complacency on our roads.
“With many of us still out of our ‘normal’ routines – working from home more and driving less, it’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security – that because there’s less cars on the road we’re safer. But even a short trip to the shops can put us at risk of a crash if we’re not paying attention.”
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