Nine of Australia's 10 worst crash spots are in Melbourne, and Springvale Road just took the top one
Springvale Road in Glen Waverley knocked Plenty Road in Bundoora off the national top spot for the first time in eight years.
Melbourne has nine of the 10 worst crash spots in Australia.
Springvale Road in Glen Waverley is the worst of them.
It has taken the top of the AAMI Crash Index off Plenty Road in Bundoora, which held the position for eight years and now sits second.
The index analysed more than 394,000 motor insurance claims lodged across Australia between January 1 and December 31 last year.
Only one road outside Melbourne made the national top 10 — Pennant Hills Road in Carlingford, in Sydney's north-west, at ninth.
The rest are Doncaster Road in Doncaster, Maroondah Highway in Ringwood, Sydney Road in Campbellfield, Bell Street in Preston, Cooper Street in Epping, Nepean Highway in Cheltenham and Stud Road in Rowville.
Springvale Road's worst intersection is Ferntree Gully Road.
Nine of the 10 share the same most common crash type — nose to tail. The exception is Doncaster Road, where drivers fail to give way.
None of this is about speed.
AAMI says most claims are not high-speed collisions but everyday bingles, and that they are among the most preventable crashes on the road.
Motor prevention manager Mary Kennedy said the hotspots share the same features: heavy traffic, multiple lanes, traffic lights, major intersections, shopping precincts and constant turning.
She said “even a momentary lapse in concentration” is enough on roads like these.
The insurer also tracked how 50,123 drivers using its app actually drive, scoring five behaviours out of 100.
Australians did well on the things they get fined for. Speeding scored 95.9 and avoiding phone distraction scored 87.6.
They did worst on the things nobody polices — acceleration at 78.6, braking at 77.9 and cornering at 76.3.
That is the pattern the crash list describes: drivers following too closely, braking late, misjudging turns and failing to read traffic ahead.
Mornings and Fridays were the peak periods nationally.
There is a reason an insurer is the one publishing this.
Suncorp industry and public policy manager Lachlan Rees said crashes without an injury or a police report do not make it into official datasets, so government road safety data is incomplete.
He said claims data helps fill those gaps.
Kennedy said the index is not about naming and shaming roads or drivers.
Springvale Road, Plenty Road, Doncaster Road and Maroondah Highway have all appeared on this list before.
Plenty Road was Australia's worst road on the same index in 2020, and it has been at or near the top ever since.
It took eight years and another Melbourne arterial to knock it off.