Today is traditionally ‘unlucky’ Black Friday the 13th and national insurer Youi has shared research revealing most car accidents across Australia occurred on Fridays.
The Youi insurance claims accident frequency study found most collisions (16 percent) occurred on Fridays and were most likely to happen between the peak periods of 8am - 9am and 3pm – 6pm.
Youi CEO Frank Costigan said “Friday is the most likely day of the week for crashes because there are generally increased levels of traffic on the roads particularly in the afternoon periods with the school commute and many motorists often opting to get away early for the weekend.”
“Driver inattention is a major factor in road crashes and may also be a further contributing factor in the increased number of Friday crashes as many people at the end of their working week may be thinking about their weekend plans and not their driving.”
“Alarmingly our claims research showed accidents happening on weekends were significantly more severe than on other days of the week with damage to cars on a Friday night, Saturday or Sunday being nine percent greater when compared to crashes on other days.
“Of even more concern is that when a crash occurred during the night time hours of 8pm – 7am, disturbingly the damage was 37 per cent higher than during day light hours, the same for all days of the week which showed night time driving can be challenging for many motorists.
“Friday nights and the weekends are busy social times when we often get out and about with friends and family.”
“Unfortunately, there’s increased road safety dangers associated with this socially active period as our research showed 41 per cent of crashes on a Friday night and across weekends contained a passenger, a 53 per cent increase on other days of the week.
“With today considered by many as a traditionally ‘unlucky’ day, Youi is urging all motorists to exercise even greater care as Friday is already a statistically dangerous day for road accidents,” said Mr Costigan.
The full Youi study on Friday and weekend driving is available at https://www.youi.com.au/youi-news/collision-stats-for-driving-on-weekends
