Annual performance indicators of enforced driver behaviours in South Australia, 2005

Abstract

This report was produced to quantify performance indicators for selected enforced driver behaviours (drink driving, speeding and restraint use) in South Australia for the calendar year 2005. Note that there were considerable problems with data on police enforcement operations and detections in 2005. Consequently, some 2005 data were not available for this report. The level of random breath testing (RBT) in South Australia in 2005 was slightly lower than in 2004. The abolition of the requirement for mobile RBT to be conducted only during ‘prescribed periods’ in mid 2005 was responsible for an increase in the proportion of tests conducted using mobile RBT. The increase in mobile testing led to an increase in the overall detection rate. However, interstate comparisons suggest the level of testing and the proportion of testing using mobile RBT should be increased further in South Australia. The proportion of mobile testing is expected to be more comparable with other states in 2006, when mobile methods would have operated on an unrestricted basis for 12 months. There was a marked increase (34%) in number of hours spent on speed detection in 2005, despite three months of speed camera inactivity. The detection rate (per hour of enforcement and per 1,000 vehicles passing speed cameras) continued to decrease in 2005 to the lowest of all years since records began in 2000. The finding of a low detection rate combined with an increase in the hours of speed detection in 2005 suggests the possibility of the positive effects of increased levels of speed enforcement. Urban and rural speed surveys were conducted in 2005. They revealed that reductions in speeds on 50 km/h urban roads in 2003 were maintained in 2005 but speeds on 60, 100 and 110km/h rural roads increased. The number of restraint offences in 2005 was slightly lower than the number in 2004. The amount of publicity supporting restraint use increased by 27 per cent in 2005 and involved a new mass media campaign in both metropolitan and rural areas.