Data Visualisation and Communication: Assessment 3 Storytelling with Open Data

Student Name: Mohammed Junaid Azhar
Student Number: S4064150
After days of relentless practice, I finally gathered the courage to give my driving test in May this year. The outcome - I failed !
I didn’t pass not because I couldn’t drive, but because I couldn’t identify road hazards and was driving too slowly.
I was frustrated at first as I had put in a lot of money and time for preparation and I ultimately failed the test. I’ll have to do it all over again.
I had a lot of questions in my head about road accidents like where do accidents happen the most? Which days and times are the riskiest ? Do external factors like speed zones, light conditions and road_geometry play a role in an accident ? Which type of accidents are the most severe ? etc.
This curiosity led me to an interesting data set by the Victorian Government (Victoria Road Crash Data - Accident - Victorian Government Data Directory, 2025) and I could answer a lot of my questions.

After the drive test, I wondered how many accidents happen every year on Victorian roads.
There seems to be a steady increase till 2016 where it peaked but the drops after that are very noticeable especially around the pandemic years (2019 and 2020).
The numbers rise up again after the pandemic highlighting that accident risk and management remain a big challenge on the roads.
My own shortcomings during the test feel very serious looking at how many accidents happen every year.

Thousands of people are injured every year on Victorian roads.
My driving test failure didn’t involve any injuries thankfully but the bar graph here shows how serious the consequences of an accident can be.
Like number of accidents, the injuries also peaked in 2015-2016 but saw a decline during the Covid-19 pandemic and but rose up again later.
The injuries from road accidents returned when the traffic roads were normalized after the pandemic emphasizing that more traffic on the road can cause more injuries.
This also serves as a lesson for drivers to practice hazard perception which is a critical skill for the road and which I didn’t focus much on.

My biggest mistakes during the test was that I slowed down while crossing a high speed zone causing the oncoming traffic to slow down too in a high speed zone.
I avoided a crash with other vehicles but many people on the Victorian roads don’t seem to do it.
Without a surprise, vast majority of the accidents have come from collisions between vehicles followed by collisions with fixed objects and hitting a pedestrian.
Seeing these figures make me realize how driving errors just not put drivers and passengers at risk but other innocent civilians on the road too.

Before my test, I learned to be extra cautious at intersections as there are vehicles and pedestrians but I didn’t give a thought about other road types.
The data here reveals most accidents don’t happen at intersections.
Most accidents happen away from intersections - highways, freeway, open roads, etc where drivers tend to relax a bit.
Highlights that accidents don’t always happen where we expect them to happen.
My mistake of slowing down happened on an open road too and it made my realize how a naive mistake can cause injury and accidents.

The overall pattern of accidents and injuries on roads hasn’t changed much in the last decade.
Collision with other vehicles have caused the most injuries followed by collisions with fixed objects and hitting a pedestrian.
Vast improvements in road technology (speed cameras, safety features in vehicles) have resulted in less accidents over the years but the danger still hangs around.
Many hazards are very similar to the ones I failed to identify during my test.
Even though the risks remain same, drivers always have to remain alert and improve their perception skills.

One of my mistakes during the test was that I became overcautious and drove slowly to avoid any crash.
Ironically, majority of crashes happen in 50-80 km/h zones and are very severe too as indicated by the orange color.
Accidents aren’t always concerned with driving fast because even at low speeds, lack of hazard perception and judgement errors can cause serious damages.
Fortunately in Victoria, fatal accidents (1) have been very less in the last decade but other accident related injuries (3) and serious injuries (2) dominate.
Safe driving isn’t about driving slow but acting according to the road conditions and staying alert and distraction free at all times.

This animated chart is year-by-year distribution of injuries across various speed zones.
The basic crux has remained same in the past decade - most injuries occur in the 50-80 kmph zones maximum at 60 kmph zones.
Driving slowly doesn’t make anyone immune to accidents as evident in the plot.
This hits close home- I became slow and I didn’t think about other things on the road and failed to properly adjust my speed according to the road conditions.
As the data indicates, most accidents don’t happen because vehicles are going too fast but because drivers fail to assess road surroundings.

My Learning from Driving Test Failure

Real Test - Hazard Perception: I’ve realized that real test is identifying hazards and true control lies in constantly scanning, predicting, responding and not just controlling the vehicle.
Speed Isn’t Everything: During the test, I became too conscious about maintaining the speed but data shows that crashes can happen at legal or lower speeds too. So it’s not about speed but how well you read the road.
Accidents happen at Predictable Times and Locations: I thought that accidents happen randomly but data points out that certain hours (during the weekends) and certain places (straight roads, highways etc) are prone to accidents and demand attention of drivers.
My test failure taught me that being a good driver is not the only thing, but being alert and aware of the environment can result in safe and peaceful driving. Studying these trends can help me prepare better for my next attempt.

References