Tag: AAMI

Motor Insurance Claims Analysis: Gympie Road on Chermside Is Brisbane’s Worst Location for Car Crashes

Photo credit: PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay

Did you know that two stretches of Gympie Road, one in Chermside and another in Kedron, both appear on the list of the top hotspots for car crashes in the country, based on an analysis of motor insurance claims in Australia?

Read: Chermside Grandpa to Share $875,000 Win with Family

The AAMI analysis studies more than 350,000 motor insurance claims to determine which capital city roads are the most dangerous. The latest insurance claims data show the locations where most common car accidents are dominated by metropolitan areas. A number of these hotspots include arterial roads that link Central Business Districts to outlying suburbs.

In Brisbane, Gympie Road in Chermside has again ranked as the top hotspot for car crashes after settling to second place last year. The peak-hour traffic at the stretch is one of the most notorious in the state, given that it’s part of the main route serving the northern suburbs.

Gympie Road’s Chermside stretch takes out the crash crown again, securing the #1 spot after dropping to second-place last year. Peak hour traffic along Gympie Road is infamous, given it’s part of the main route serving the northern suburbs.

A stretch of Gympie Rd in Kedron is also part of the top 5 hotspots in Brisbane and the differentiator between the Chermside and Kedron stretches looks like the shopping centre. Congestion is significant in that area of Chermside.

AAMI warns motorists who are planning an outing with their family to “keep your wits about you” as traffic along this stretch of Chermside as shoppers nearby could congest the road. 

Others in the top five include:

  • Logan Road, Mount Gravatt –  regaining the same #2 spot it held in 2020
  • Morayfield Road, Morayfield – ranks #3 for three years in a row
  • Ipswich Road, Annerley – in fourth place despite dropping the speed limit to 50 km/h
  • Gympie Road, Kedron – new on the list, occupying the fifth spot.

Read: Have You Had Your Say on the Proposed New Bus Network Yet?

In Queensland, nose-to-tail prangs were identified as the most common type of collision. AAMI advises motorists to “stay alert and maintain a good distance between you and the car in front of you.”

Meanwhile, data current to September 2022 from Australian Road Deaths shows a slight increase in the number of road deaths across the country with 1,211 from 1,128 last year. Drivers recorded the most incidents among road users with 586 or 48.4 per cent of the total followed by motorcyclists with 20.3 per cent. 

Read more about the AAMI Crash Index here.

Chermside’s Gympie Road Remains to be One of Brisbane’s Worst Accident Hotspots

AAMI, an insurance company, recently released their Crash Index for 2017. Bad news for Chermside residents. Gympie Road still ranks high in Brisbane’s top five worst accident hotspots, ranking in the third spot, following Ipswich Road in Annerley and Mains Road in Sunnybank, which claimed the first and second spots.

 

Traffic Bottleneck on Gympie Road

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Gympie Road claim to notoriety has been its consistent inclusion in Brisbane’s worst crash hotspots. In fact, it was Brisbane’s worst accident hotspot in 2015. Although now down to third place, Gympie Road clearly remains to be a problem, mostly due to the heavy volume of traffic that passes this major artery.

Photo credit: QLD Traffic

As a major road in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Gympie Road caters to a lot of vehicles travelling between the CBD and the northern suburbs, including the Sunshine Coast. Just this month, Snarl Live Brisbane Traffic Updates recorded multi-vehicular crashes along the Gympie Road. Throughout the year, these multiple crashes often result to multiple fatalities.

 

Artist’s impression of a multi-transit Gympie Road.
(Photo credit: Brisbane Development)

According to the study conducted by Brisbane Development, Chermside has seen urban densification that attracted people to move in the suburb and propose new dwellings within the Chermside-Kedron area along the Gympie Road. This urbanisation and densification has led to constant gridlocks covering large sections of the road.

Brisbane Development has said that road widening and remarking bus lanes would not address the issue, but a shift of mode of transport can. Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner mentioned that the Brisbane Metro will be expanded to Chermside, and that this should reconfigure Gympie Road from a car-centric road to a multi-transit road, hopefully reducing congestion and the incidence of multiple crashes.

Photo credit: Chermside District

This proposal is not new. In fact, Gympie Road has a dedicated Chermside Line with tramcars running down the road in the 1950s. The line is in between two lanes of traffic with enough space to accommodate vehicles and even rose gardens.

 

Main Causes of Road Crashes

Photo credit: Free Stock Photos

Aside from the traffic bottleneck on the Gympie Road, the AAMI Crash Index reveals that 45% of motorists believe that distractions, such as mobile phones, are the common cause of crashes. Despite the dangers of “texting while driving”, a significant number of motorists are still taking the risk. AAMI study shows that 3% of Queenslanders text while driving and 47% engage in conversation with a hands-free kit.

“Concentration is key, especially when travelling in heavy traffic. It’s important to leave enough room between you and the car in front, keep to the speed limit and avoid distractions like mobile phones … Even when used legally, mobile phones can be very distracting for drivers – particularly phone calls. We would urge drivers to limit their use of phones while they’re driving and only operate them when it is absolutely safe to do so,” AAMI Spokesperson Michael Mills said.

Overspeeding and tailgating are also common causes of road crashes. Motorists should be mindful of safe driving behaviour when travelling Gympie Road and any other road. For travellers on Gympie Road, it’s best to be safe, than sorry.