Originally Posted by
JDNSW
No. There have been only two legislative actions that have had noticeable effects on the accident statistics - compulsory fitting and wearing of seat belts, and the introduction of random breath testing.
Contrary to your assertion, in my view, driving behaviour has improved since the 1970s, although perhaps not dramatically.
The steady improvement in statistics, which has been continuing ever since the start of road statistics in the 1920s seems to be mainly from two factors -
1. Better engineering, as you say, but mainly civil engineering rather than mechanical engineering, although this has played some part, with better steering and brakes and better tyres and to a limited extent crash safety, although this is largely counteracted by higher speeds. A good example of the effects of civil engineering is the Pacific Highway, where the accident rate has dropped dramatically for every section converted to dual carriageway, despite the higher speed limit and much higher average speeds. But the small changes being made all the time cumulatively have probably more effect. For example, in this area, accident rate on the Golden Highway has dropped substantially, despite higher traffic levels, with the introduction of edge marking, turn lanes, level crossings with lights instead of stop signs (used to be at least one fatal per year at these before), better engineered curves etc.......................
