Kiwis love their cars. According to the data portal Statista, there are over 4.5 million registered vehicles in New Zealand as of December 2023. While fatal car accidents have decreased in the country over the past few decades, the dangers remain in the background.
Perhaps that's why AMI Insurance has identified the ten most collision-prone suburbs in New Zealand. The company analyzed three years of motor claims data to reach a few intriguing conclusions.
Below are where most of the car collisions in New Zealand occur, along with the respective number of claims AMI Insurance received over three years from May 2020 to 2023.
- Auckland City Centre (6505)
- Christchurch Centre (5046)
- Henderson (3916)
- Albany (3106)
- Glenfield (3029)
- Mount Maunganui (2987)
- East Tamaki (2889)
- Dunedin Centre (2843)
- Mount Wellington (2799)
- Hamilton Centre (2633)
AMI also ranked the cities based on the same question, with Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington emerging on top.
- Auckland (33.9%)
- Christchurch City (10.9%)
- Wellington City (4.8%)
- Hamilton City (4%)
- Tauranga City (3.4%)
- Dunedin City (2.7%)
- Lower Hutt City (2.3%)
- Whangarei District (1.9%)
- Palmerston North City (1.8%)
- New Plymouth District (1.5%)
In addition, here are the times of day when car collisions occurred most in New Zealand, based on AMI numbers:
- Early morning (5am - 10 am) - 17.5%
- Late morning (10 am - 1 pm) - 24.9%
- Afternoon (1 pm - 6 pm) - 40.7%
- Evening (6 pm - 10 pm) - 13.3%
- Night (10 pm - 5 am) - 3.6%
Looking at the figures, it seems driving from late morning until afternoon poses the most risk for Kiwi motorists. It makes sense, as this is likely when most cars ply the roads.
Meanwhile, Fridays are reportedly the riskiest day to get behind the wheel, with 16 per cent of all collisions occurring during that day of the week. Next is Wednesday, followed by Tuesday, Saturday, and Monday. Sunday is the least risky day to take your car out.