Question On Notice No. 1589 asked in the Legislative Council on 23 August 2018 by Hon Martin Aldridge
Question Directed to the: Minister for Environment representing the Minister for Police
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Question
I refer to question on notice No. 1393, in relation to Western Australia Police pursuits, and I ask again:
(a) in relation to police pursuits, will the Minister please identify for each of the last 10 years, the number of fatalities that have arisen from such pursuits in each year;
(b) of those identified in (a), will the Minister, where possible, identify the nature of the involvement in the pursuit i.e. police driver, police passenger, pursued vehicle driver, pursued vehicle passenger, bystander, unrelated vehicle driver or passenger etc.; and
(c) for each of the past 10 years, will the Minister please identify the number of fatalities and, separately, the number of serious injuries that have occurred on Western Australian roads, noting that it is not appropriate for a Minister to direct the Parliament to a website.?
Answered on 9 October 2018
(a-b) The Western Australian Police advise that 42 people have died on WA roads connected to police pursuits. Six deaths occurred in 2008/2009, consisting of five drivers of pursued vehicle and one passenger in a pursued vehicle; three in 2009/2010, consisting of one driver of a pursued vehicle, one passenger in a pursued vehicle, and one passenger in a bystander vehicle; four in 2010/2011, consisting of three drivers of pursued vehicles, and one passenger in a pursued vehicle; five in 2011/2012, consisting of three drivers of pursued vehicles, one passenger in a pursued vehicle, and one driver of a bystander vehicle; five in 2012/2013, consisting of one driver of a pursued vehicle, one passenger of a pursued vehicle, two drivers of bystander vehicles, and one passenger of a bystander vehicle; two in 2013/2014, both drivers of pursued vehicles; two in 2014/2015, also both drivers of pursued vehicles; five in 2015/2016, consisting of two drivers of pursued vehicles and three passengers of pursued vehicles; eight in 2015/2016, consisting of four drivers of pursued vehicles, two passengers of pursued vehicles, two passengers of bystander vehicles; and a further two in the 2017/2018 year to date, both drivers of pursued vehicles.
(c) I note the Member’s comment with respect to direction to a website and advise that more information than ever is publically available through online resources. If the Member wants up to date statistics, both the WA Police Force website and the Road Safety Commission website are excellent sources of information. The Road Safety Commission website provides information on the present and past road toll, across the State and by region, as well as the Preliminary Fatal and Critical Injuries on WA Roads Reports for each year, and Reported Road Crashes in Western Australia for each year. In addition, world class research, directed and funded by the Road Safety Commission, is published on the website. The expert information and research on the website contributes to saving the lives of many Western Australians on our roads each year.
The WA Police Force advises that the annual fatalities and critical injuries on Western Australian roads, 2008 to 2017 and 2018 year-to-date are as follows:
|
Year
|
Fatalities
|
Serious Injuries
|
|
2008
|
205
|
349
|
|
2009
|
191
|
366
|
|
2010
|
193
|
290
|
|
2011
|
179
|
244
|
|
2012
|
182
|
200
|
|
2013
|
161
|
192
|
|
2014
|
182
|
248
|
|
2015
|
161
|
171
|
|
2016
|
195
|
234
|
|
2017
|
161
|
156
|
|
2018
|
82
|
92
|