Suburbs with highest vehicle crash rates revealed

Auckland central has the highest rate of vehicle crashes in New Zealand, followed by Christchurch central, new insurance claim data shows.

State Insurance on Tuesday revealed the 10 New Zealand suburbs with the highest rates of collisions, based on claims made over 12 months.

Auckland Central had the most at 831, while Christchurch Central had 512, and Henderson in Auckland’s west had 478.

Over 42 per cent of the collisions took place when many were on the road heading home from work or school, between the hours of 1-6pm on weekdays, based on data from 2020.

Other suburbs in the top list 10 included Auckland’s Mount Wellington, Hamilton Central and Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty.

Wayne Tippet, State’s executive general manager of claims, said the latest data showed most of the collisions were happening in busy centres at busy times of the day.

“While we will always be here to help our customers if a collision happens, the data is a good reminder to stay extra alert at busy accident spots like major intersections, when vehicles merge lanes, as well as during the busy hours of the day,” Tippet said.

A list of the top 10 suburbs with the highest rate of collisions in New Zealand:

State Insurance also found that after the 1-6pm rush at 42 per cent, the other most common time for collisions was between the hours of 10am-1pm at 23 per cent.