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Media spokesperson for vehicle insurer AAMI Mike Sopinski said their research shows two in three pedestrians admit to jaywalking. This comes as 200 pedestrians were killed on the roads around the nation last year."I see it all the time... pedestrians stepping out into traffic in their own little world with their MP3 players and mobile phones in their ears," he said. "What I'm concerned about here is that we have a great number of noiseless electric vehicles about to hit our roads. It's a recipe for a growing number of pedestrian deaths."Although using handheld mobile phones while driving is now banned, Sopinski said he didn't believe it would come to that for pedestrians on roads. "It comes down to individuals exercising commonsense and perhaps adults adopting the lesson of 'look right and look left' that we instil in children," he said.The AAMI online research of 2818 Australians also found that one-quarter (26 per cent) of drivers consider pedestrians to be a hazard when driving and 93 per cent say they always look out for pedestrians and drive more cautiously in areas with high pedestrian activity."Alarmingly, more than half of the drivers surveyed (51 per cent) said that pedestrians who engaged in dangerous activities like jaywalking were to blame if they were hit by a car," he said. "Drivers need to be conscious of all road users, not just other cars. Pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable groups on our roads, as they have no protection if they are involved in a motor vehicle accident."This latest research comes as car manufacturers are introducing bonnet crash protection that reduces injury to pedestrians, not just the vehicle occupants. Among these safety features are bonnets that deflect pedestrians on impact and even a Volvo system that detects pedestrians and automatically stops the car.Pedestrian deaths in 2009 - 200 national(40 QLD, 62 NSW, 50 VIC, 27 WA, 9 SA, 7 NT, 3 TAS, 2 ACT)Jaywalkers - 67% national(66% QLD, 68% NSW & VIC, 64% WA, 66% SA, 72% NT, 67% TAS, 66% ACT)Pedestrians are a hazard - 26% national(28% QLD, 28% NSW, 24% VIC, 27% WA, 25% SA, 21% NT, 23% TAS, 19% ACT)Pedestrians are to blame if hit - 51% national(53% QLD, 49% NSW, 53% VIC, 52% WA, 48% SA, 51% NT, 53% TAS, 49% ACT)Watch for pedestrians - 93% national(93% QLD & VIC, 92%, NSW and WA, 95% SA & TAS, 98% NT, 91% ACT)Drive cautiously in pedestrian area - 93% national(93% QLD, VIC & WA, 91% NSW, 95% SA, 98% NT, 97% TAS, 84% ACT)

Sydney fails miserably when it comes to parking fines and car parking costs. For an expired meter, a Sydneysider is fined $84, compared with $60 in Brisbane and Melbourne, $50 in Perth, $25 in Hobart and $20 in Darwin.In regional Australia, the cheapest place is Devonport in Tasmania while South Australia had four cities in the top 10.  Virgin Money Australia boss Matt Baxby said capital cities had cheaper fuel prices than regional area, but the provincial cities paid highly for all other criteria."The bigger the city the worse the result, which leaves poor old Sydney at the bottom of the table," he said.  Sydney struck out with the highest parking fines ($84), parking costs ($35 for two hours), car thefts (866) and car insurance costs ($1895).It was also out in front on tolls at $2.02 per kilometre compared with Melbourne's 29c and Brisbane's 13c. However, no all other cities have toll roads.  Hobart had the cheapest parking costs ($3 for two hours) and car insurance ($874) with the lowest car theft figures (66).CAR FRIENDLY CAPITAL CITIES1 Perth2 Darwin3 Hobart4 Adelaide5 Canberra6 Melbourne7 Brisbane8 SydneyCAR FRIENDLY REGIONAL CITIES1 Devonport, Tas2 Mount Gambier, SA3 Burnie, Tas4 Bunbury, WA5 Port Augusta, SA6 Gawler, SA7 Port Lincoln, SA8 Launceston, Tas9 Bendigo, Vic10 Albany, WA11 Wodonga12 Mandurah13 Mildura14 Toowoomba15 Alice Springs16 Geraldton17 Ballarat18 Rockingham19 Townsville20 Wagga Wagga21 Cairns22 Rockhampton23 Fremantle24 Albury25 Coffs Harbour26 Mackay27 Geelong28 Gosford29 Wollongong30 Newcastle

An overwhelming 87 per cent of people think current levels of training are inadequate, with 30 per cent of those also believing government bodies should subsidise extra training.The support for more training is revealed in an exclusive online Carsguide poll triggered by a recent spate of deadly crashes involving young and inexperienced drivers.  Given four choices, with all but one pointing to inadequate training, only 13 per cent of the 2000-plus people in the poll say today's training is sufficient.The poll is ongoing but, based on the latest results, 47 per cent say driver training is inadequate, a further 30 per cent believe government bodies should subsidise more training to solve the inadequacies, while 10 per cent think the cost should be borne by parents.The response to the poll is no surprise to engineer and road safety expert John Cadogan.“It’s great to see that so many people acknowledge the inadequacy of driver training,” Cadogan says.“The current training system is inadequate in everything except the road rules – I think our young drives are fairly well-versed in that regard.”  Cadogan says current training concentrates on how and where to park instead of teaching drivers how to avoid crashes.“The main thing ignored in training is the imperative to mitigate risk,” he says.  “It’s quite possible to emerge from our graduated licensing scheme and not know that 50 per cent of road trauma occurs at intersections.“Wouldn’t you think it might be useful for drivers to know that people sometimes crash into stop signs and red lights? If young drivers were given more information, road trauma would be reduced dramatically.”Cadogan agrees with the 30 per cent of poll respondents who say governments should subsidise the extra training, rather than putting more responsibility on parents.  “There’s no question that there’s a government responsibility to both regulate the roads and ensure they comprise a safe system,” he says.“It’s fairly difficult to expect parents to train their children – when they haven’t been properly trained themselves. And it’s not a matter of household income … most parents spend a lot of money on their children, for very worthwhile causes.”Cadogan says funding for better training could come from the vast pool of road fines revenue, and would save the government in the long run.  “If you get driver training right it funds itself because of the reduced cost of road trauma, which is about $20 billion annually -- twice ass much as organised crime,” Cadogan says.“But there is also a good argument to spend some of the income from fines. And there’s enough of it. I’d be very surprised if speeding alone wasn’t a billion-dollar business – it’s $300 million in New South Wales alone.“The motorist is the golden goose. We collectively buy 20 billion litres annually of petrol that’s taxed at 50 cents a litre _ that’s 10 billion in taxes. Add to that the yearly registration fees for 15 million vehicles on the road.  Money keeps adding up incredibly – and it generally doesn’t get returned to the road or the user.” Cadogan says the other side of the driver coin is the cost of road trauma and death.  “Every life you save probably returns more than a million to the community,” he says.  “Every time there’s a death, there’s an inquest, the cost of calling out the fire services, the police, the reporting system … it all adds up."He also says the extra training is not about creating a national of drivers with super skills.  “We’re not talking about advanced driver training. Just fundamental concepts," he says.“We need to change the emphasis of the driver training from rule compliance to risk management.  It’s very easy to comply with road rules – what we need is training to avoid the road risks.”

More than one in three cars is stolen during the morning in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, according to the data from car insurance company Budget Direct.The exception is Victoria, where 30 per cent of cars are stolen during midweek evenings.  Budget Direct spokesperson Richelle Ward says it is surprising to see how many vehicles were stolen in broad daylight."One might think thieves would prefer to operate through the night, which is simply not the case," Ward says.  The data shows that thieves also like the cold weather with most thefts occurring in the winter months around the nation, except for Queensland where summer is the most popular with thieves.Tasmania's crime peak is in September which accounts for almost one in three car thefts. The same month accounts for 25 per cent of thefts in South Australia, while Western Australia’s peak month is April with 20 per cent of thefts.Throughout the nation the most popular vehicle for thieves is the Holden Commodore which has also been the top seller for the past decade and most vehicles are stolen on a Monday.However, in Western Australia, the Ford Falcon is twice as popular among thieves as the second biggest target, the Toyota Camry.  Budget Direct data also show almost half of all accidents across the nation occur between noon and 6pm on a Friday.  Ward says the accident data indicates a trend for drivers to switch off after a long week's work.

The holiday season brings all sorts of joy for most of us, but all sorts of pain for a few.  So, how far would you be prepared to go in the battle against carnage on the roads? As far as a compulsory alcometer in your car?It's the latest suggestion thrown up by road safety research, which says between 97 and 388 fatalities could be prevented on Australia roads each year if every car was fitted with an interlock to prevent drunk drivers getting on the road.The research was done by the best brains in the country, at the Accident Research Centre at Monash University, and they say between six and 24 per cent of all road fatalities could be prevented by compulsory alcolocks.“Our research definitely shows that installing these devices in all registered vehicles could be an effective way of saving lives on our roads. Each summer holiday season we are confronted with grim road toll statistics, but this study shows that more can be done to bring the number of needless deaths and injuries down,” says Dr Julie Lahausse of MUARC.“There are around 1500 road fatalities in Australia every year, and it has been estimated that 25 per cent of these accidents are alcohol-related. So it appears that other strategies, such as fines and licence disqualifications, are not doing enough on their own.”  She says the annual cost of alcohol-related carnage on the road is around $1.5 billion, a figure that could be slashed by 24 to 95 per cent.Legislation regarding alcolocks varies between states, but they are typically only installed in the vehicles of repeat drink-driving offenders.In Victoria, a range of alcolock measures were introduced in 2006, including mandatory installation of the devices for first-time drink driving offenders with blood alcohol concentration levels of 0.07 or higher, if aged under 26 or a probationary licence holder.So, how do you feel? Let us know in the comment box below.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

It's not as crazy as it sounds, provided you believe the Queensland police chief who made the commitment recently when he unveiled an intensified speed camera program for the sunshine state.Commissioner Bob Atkinson said he would remove cameras as soon as the toll dropped, but he is on safe ground with the Queensland toll going the wrong way through 2009 despite every effort by the police.    Atkinson says the only time since 1955 that the Queensland toll was less than 300 people was in 1988, the year radar was introduced for speed enforcement.Predictably, Atkinson made his move ahead of the Christmas travel season, just as the TAC in Victoria also touted the latest Moving Mode Radars to catch speeders in the state.  "Police will be out in force with radars in hand to help ensure your Christmas is not wrecked by idiots speeding on our roads," says Victoria's acting superintendent Steve Frost.More than 200 of the moving mode radar units will be in action through to the new year, firstly through Operation RAID and then through Operation Aegis If it all sounds like a military-style operation, it is, but the objective is to minimise casualites.While the police are pushing the radar angle, Atkinson makes some far better points in an open letter on the dangers of driving.  "We cannot make you have a good night's sleep before you set out on a road trip," he says."We cannot stop you getting behind the wheel after you have been drinking. We cannot stop you picking up the mobile phone."Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

Popular campaigns against drink driving and speeding are overshadowing an equally important message of vehicle safety, according to the chamber's executive director, David Purchase. "I think that there is too great an emphasis on road safety at the expense of vehicle safety," he says. He says the road safety message is too narrowly focused.Purchase says it is too easy to push "glamorous" high-profile road safety campaigns at the expense of rudimentary safety. Although he applauded the initiatives undertaking by the Victorian Government, Police and VicRoads "there is not a commensurate effort in ensuring that our vehicles are safe"."What's the bloody use of having our roads as safe as anything and our vehicles unsafe?" He says unroadworthy vehicles are becoming an increasing problem as the economic downturn forces people to cut corners with vehicle maintenance.Purchase believes there is a good reason to have compulsory annual vehicle checks, particularly for small commercial vehicles. "They're a business vehicle," he says. "They should be treated as part of the occupational health and safety process." Purchase accepts that his views are politically unpopular. "It's not a vote winner," he says. "But we've been campaigning for mandatory checks for 30 years but the time has come to put it back on the agenda."Purchase says the current safety campaigns, although valid, do not address the whole motoring message. "You can't knock what they're doing on road safety but you can say there is too much emphasis on it at the expense of vehicle safety," he says."Look at the irony of the Victorian Government compelling electronic stability control and yet they do nothing about bald tyres?" he says. "We know ESC will work on bald tyres but it won't work as well. What point is having stability control if other parts of the car are unsafe?"VACC research shows a growing number of vehicles with faulty brakes, steering, lights, tyres and seatbelts. Its recent findings show that 25 per cent of Victorian vehicles failed a five-point safety check involving tyres, steering, seatbelts, headlights and brakes. Alarmingly, its most recent figures reveal that almost 20 per cent of relatively new cars under 100,000km failed the check.In the past government agencies have believed that the incidence of unroadworthy vehicles contributing to the road toll were quite low. "The government owes it to the community to do more about educating drivers that their vehicles must be safe," he says.The VACC will continue to push its own five-point safety check for consumers and will also add to its research data on vehicle safety. "It's about education," he says. "Most people don't know when their tyres are bad or brakes are not as good as they should be."

It's not because he was traveling more than 30km/h beyond the posted limited - which he was - or because he was driving a well-known fast car from Japan, or because he had two other people in the car.His real crime was that he was not doing his job.Lots of people get booked for running just a couple of kilometres over the limit in Victoria, and that is something the carsguide team finds apalling. There must be some kind of lattitude in the law enforcement policy, at least to match the error in an average car's speedometer.People have lost faith in the system of policing in the state, as we have seen from the bulk emails we have received in recent weeks on the subject. And the number of people who now drive below the speed limit, often by more than 10 km/h.But back to the friend.He was not doing his job because he was not concentrating and had not seen the speed signs, or the outskirts of the town he was entering, or the plainly-marked police car which nabbed him.What's the best thing to do with people like my friend?A holiday from the roads, a stern lecture and some help seems like a good start.Basically, he needs a comprehensive wake-up call. Just like the learner I saw yesterday sitting with her chest almost resting on the steering wheel, driving at just 70km/h on a piece of 100km/h interstate highway.The learner needed some serious driver training, just like my friend. At least he is going to get it, but it should have been part of the package before was given his license in the first place. 

Police Minister Jim Cox said yesterday more than 800 Tasmanian drivers had had their cars impounded since hooning laws were introduced in September 2004.

NSW Roads Minister Eric Roozendaal congratulated the state's Centre for Road Safety for its; Speeding. No One Thinks Big of You campaign, which has been named campaign of the year at the national AdNews awards.The advertisements show people crooking their little finger at men who drive irresponsibly, suggesting that drivers who speed do so to compensate for a small penis."Little Pinkie has become one of the most successful anti-speeding campaigns ever in NSW," Mr Roozendaal said today.Mr Roozendaal said the campaign prompted the community to talk about the effects of speeding."This campaign is about saving lives - not pride. If it dents a few egos but helps save a life, then it's worth it."AdNews is advertising's 'industry bible', a national fortnightly publication in its 80th year.The latest research showed that the speeding is uncool message had reached a 96 per cent awareness in young males, Mr Roozendaal said."Perhaps, most revealing was that 61 per cent of young males surveyed believe the campaign was powerful enough to make them think about their own driving behaviour."Jim Moser, managing director of advertising agency Clemenger BBDO Sydney, said his company was proud to have created an unconventional approach to reducing the road toll."It takes a very brave client to accept, believe in and champion creative work like 'Pinkie," he said. Does this campaign make you think twice about speeding?