Australians are nearly four times more likely to die in road crashes if they live north of the Tropic of Capricorn than people to the south.
Australian Automobile Association analysis of road deaths data shows there were 15.05 deaths per 100,000 Australians in those parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory north of the Tropic of Capricorn in 2022. The road crash death rate per 100,000 Australians south of the tropic (excluding Western Australia) was 3.96.
For 2021, when Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics figures are also available for Western Australia, there were 11.58 road crash deaths per 100,000 people north of the Tropic of Capricorn and 4.09 per cent south of the tropic.
The disparity over road safety outcomes between north and south mirror the difference between the death rates between people who live in cities and those living in regional Australia.
They underline the need for greater transparency of road crash data so we can better understand the factors driving road deaths, which are increasing despite all governments having signed up to a target to halve road deaths by 2030.
Analysis by the nation’s peak motoring body shows Australians living in regional areas are almost five times more likely to die in road crashes than those living in cities.
AAA analysis of the latest Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics figures also shows Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory continue to record much higher rates of road deaths per population than the national average.
1,193 people died on the nation’s roads in 2022, an increase of more than 5% on the previous year. This equates to a national per capita fatality rate of 4.59 deaths per 100,000 people.
AAA analysis shows the per capita road death rate for regional Australians in 2022 to be 10.6 deaths per 100,000 people, including 18.7 in both regional Western Australia and the Northern Territory, 10.24 in regional Queensland, and 8.92 across Tasmania.
For urban Australians in 2022, the corresponding rate was 2.24 road deaths per 100,000 people.
2022 road deaths and metro/regional comparison
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said: “These numbers present a picture that should be of great concern for people and families living across regional Australia.
“We need to understand the factors causing this metro-regional disparity and greater Commonwealth road safety leadership through improved data collection is the key to making this possible.
“We know deaths are continuing to rise, but we have no national data regarding serious injuries, road quality, crash causes, or details regarding the people and cars involved.
“It is not enough to know how many people were killed in road crashes – we also need to know how they were killed, and how to prevent these deaths in the future”.
The AAA’s 2023-24 federal budget submission calls for commonwealth road funding to states and territories be linked to their provision of this road crash data, so Australians can be satisfied that road spending is going where it is needed.
Mr Bradley said: “The Federal Budget is an opportunity to reset the dial on road safety by making road funding to states contingent on transparency and provision of road safety data.
“There is so much we don’t know about road trauma in Australia, but one thing we do know is that if we keep making the same mistakes, we will continue to produce the same tragic outcomes.’’
The AAA is the nation’s peak motoring body, representing Australia’s state-based motoring clubs and their 8.9 million members. The AAA is an apolitical and technology-neutral advocate for federal transport policy that improves safety, affordability, and mobility.
Australia’s peak motoring body says a more urgent response from government is needed, as new data shows national road deaths increased 7.3% in the 12 months to 31 January 2023.
The AAA said the deaths of 1,208 Australian road users – an increase of 82 on the previous corresponding period – should be of great concern to governments as it shows their collective commitment to halve road deaths through the decade to 2030 is progressing poorly.
The latest Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics data shows deaths increasing in most states and territories, with Tasmania (44.4%), the ACT (41.7%), the NT (28.6%), WA (16.6%), Queensland (10.1%) and Victoria (5.0%) seeing the largest increases. AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said: “The AAA is deeply concerned by Australia’s worsening road toll and the lack of available information regarding its cause.
“Too many government commitments remain unmeasured, undefined, or unreported, and this continues to inhibit the development of evidence-based responses to the factors causing so much death and injury.
“The COVID pandemic demonstrated the capacity for Australian governments to quickly and safely share data and the AAA hopes the lessons learnt are not forgotten.”
The AAA’s Federal Budget submission calls for all Commonwealth road funding to states be made contingent on states and territories releasing important data related to the safety assessment of road infrastructure; casualty crash details including crash type, location and conditions, vehicle details, road user details including road user type, licence status, and behavioural factors; as well as enforcement and compliance data.
The AAA is one of many road safety advocates to be calling for the Commonwealth to leverage the significant land transport infrastructure funding it provides states to urgently facilitate the timely, consistent, and open reporting of national road safety data. The AAA submission also calls for the Commonwealth to increase infrastructure investment by spending all revenue that motorists pay in fuel excise back into land transport.
The Commonwealth collects 47.7 cents per litre of petrol and diesel sold and over the past decade, only 58.7 per cent of this has been reinvested in land transport. Spending all excise collected at the bowser on land transport would save lives.
AAA Media contact: Matthew Franklin, Director – External Affairs, 0411 659 868, matthew.franklin@aaa.asn.au
The Australian Automobile Association is the nation’s peak motoring body, representing Australia’s state-based motoring clubs and their 8.9 million members. The AAA is an apolitical and technology-neutral advocate for federal transport policy that improves safety, affordability, and mobility.
Australia’s peak motoring body says the National Road Safety Action Plan (2023-25) released today repeats mistakes of the past and risks having little impact on improving road safety outcomes.
The Action Plan, meant to guide actions needed to meet nationally agreed road trauma reduction targets, fails to deliver transparency reforms previously and repeatedly recommended by independent inquiries, government reviews, and expert advice.
One of the greatest roadblocks to improving road safety in this country is the non-publication of critical road safety data that could allow Australians to judge whether state and federal governments are investing in the right projects to improve road safety.
Australians know that road deaths are continuing to rise. But we have no information about rates of serious injury, the exact location of our most-dangerous black spots or the safety rating of the road.
States and territories have this information, but it is not made public.
AAA Managing Director, Michael Bradley said “Motorists and taxpayers have a right to full transparency of road safety data so they can be assured that governments are investing scarce public money where it is most needed to deliver safety outcomes. “Public investment in roads must be about saving lives, not seats.
“The new Federal Government has a golden opportunity to reset the dial on road safety by making its road funding grants to states contingent on transparency of road safety data. “But this report is silent on the issue of evidence-based road funding. The Government must address this issue in May’s Budget.’’
The AAA welcomes the Action Plan’s acknowledgment that: ‘There is a critical need to improve national road safety data, and strengthen the evidence base for decisions on the most efficient and effective ways to deliver better road safety outcomes’’.
The AAA also welcomes the review of road safety research being undertaken by the Australian Government and all state and territory governments. Since 2019, the AAA has invested $3.4 million in its Road Safety Research Program.
But given the 5 per cent increase in road deaths in 2022 despite government commitments to halve road deaths through the decade to 2030, what is needed is a concrete data-driven response needed to arrest this current trajectory.
“It is unacceptable that Australian governments continue to commit to road safety reduction metrics that are unreported, unmeasured, or undefined.
The Action Plan states that the National Road Safety Data Collection and Reporting Framework, and National Road Safety Minimum Dataset won’t be delivered until late 2024.
This should be done sooner given the data will inform policy and the ambitious targets agreed in the Strategy which cannot be measured without the data. This date will also be too late to leverage the new National Partnership Agreement on Land Transport Infrastructure Projects to require jurisdictions to provide road safety data to be eligible for road funding.
The AAA looks forward to working with the proposed Road Safety Data Working Group, which will focus on making data available for measuring progress towards the National Road Safety Strategy (2021-30).
AAA Media contact: Matthew Franklin, Director – External Affairs, 0411 659 868, matthew.franklin@aaa.asn.au
The Australian Automobile Association is the nation’s peak motoring body, representing Australia’s state-based motoring clubs and their 8.9 million members. The AAA is an apolitical and technology-neutral advocate for federal transport policy that improves safety, affordability, and mobility.
