Seat Belts are the best protection in a car accident.

Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety-related behavior. 63% of people killed in accidents are not wearing seat belts. Wearing a seat belt use is still the single most effective thing we can do to save lives and reduce injuries on Australia’s roadways.

Data suggests that education alone is not doing the job with young people, especially males ages 16 to 25 the age group least likely to buckle up. They simply do not believe they will be injured or killed. Yet they are the nation’s highest-risk drivers, with more drunk driving, more speeding, and more crashes. Neither education nor fear of injury or death is strong enough to motivate this tough-to-reach group.

Rather, it takes stronger seat belt laws and high visibility enforcement campaigns to get them to buckle up.

Seat belts are the most effective safety devices in vehicles today, estimated to save hundreds of lives each year. Yet only 68 percent of the motor vehicle occupants are buckled.

The Western Australia Drive Safe book may be downloaded as a complete handbook or section by section:

• Full version of the Drive Safe Book (pdf 2.85 MB)

The Drive Safe book as separate sections:

• Part 1 - Introduction – Safe driving (pdf 945kb)
• Part 2 - How to obtain a Western Australian Licence (pdf 460kb)
• Part 3 - Major road rules and additional safety advice (pdf 1.7MB)
• Part 4 - Emergencies and crashes (pdf 615kb)
• Part 5 - The law and you (pdf 669kb)
• Part 6 - Ride safe (pdf 473kb)
• Part 7 - Appendices (pdf 463kb)

You may also download an audio version of the Drive Safe book below.

A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Auckland, New Zealand indicates that there may be a link between car color and serious injuries as a result of car accidents. Their findings were published in the The British Medical Journal in December 2003.

The study involved accidents in New Zealand between 1998 and 1999. According to their findings, drivers of brown cars had the highest risk of sustaining serious injuries caused by auto accidents. Black and green cars also had elevated risks.

Which are the safest cars? Drivers of silver-colored cars, according to the report, have a 50% less chance of being involved in an injury-causing accident than do drivers of white cars! While the results are surprising, more studies need to be performed before we all rush out and repaint or replace our vehicles.

The scientists did not explain why there was such a disparity in accident rates. Perhaps lighter colored cars are more visible, or perhaps the people who choose such cars are a self-selecting group of safe drivers.

A study by MUARC – Monash University Accident Research Centre has found that having Electronic Stability Control(ESC) fitted to your car reduces the risk of driver injury in a crash by up to 32 per cent. Research also showed the risk of driver injury in a 4WD in a single vehicle crash was reduced by 68 per cent.

What is Electronic Stability Control?

ESC is an advanced vehicle safety technology that compares the position of the steering wheel to the vehicle’s direction of travel. When a difference is detected, it automatically applies brake pressure to individual wheels. By correcting understeer or oversteer, ESC helps keep the driver in control of their vehicle. Some versions of ESC also reduce engine power.

It is different to ABS and traction control as it acts independently of the driver but it does act in conjunction with these functions.

Does my car have ESC?

ESC is also known as Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) – depending on the vehicle manufacturer. If your vehicle is fitted with one of these or a similar variant, then yes, it does have ESC.

Prior to 2007, few cars came standard with ESC. After its development, it was often available as an option, if at all, and mainly on luxury car models. However, today many manufacturers are making ESC standard in new models, sometimes even across the entire range.

MUARC’s ESC study

The study used crash data from “Australia and New Zealand to evaluate the effectiveness of ESC in reducing crash risk and to establish whether benefits estimated in overseas studies have translated to the Australian and New Zealand environments.”

MUARC looked at crashes involving 7,699 vehicles comprised of 90 different models, making it the broadest study of ESC-fitted vehicles carried out to date.

It found that:

• Vehicles with ESC had a 32 per cent reduction in the risk of single vehicle crashes in which drivers were injured;
• ESC was more effective in preventing single vehicle crashes for 4WDs (68 per cent reduction) than for passenger cars (28 per cent reduction);
• ESC was more effective in preventing crashes resulting in driver injury than less serious crashes.

The study did not show if ESC was effective in preventing or reducing the severity of multiple vehicle crashes. But it did predict that ESC would prevent “nearly 500 serious injury crashes in Australia over the period to 2015.”