There were 1,202 deaths on Australia’s roads in the 12 months to 31 May 2023 – 24 more than in the previous 12-months, according to figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics.
The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) said the data highlighted the need for “urgent and significant reform of Australia’s road trauma reporting and performance.”
Australian governments have agreed on the National Road Safety Strategy target of halving Australia’s road toll through the decade to 2030.
However, the AAA said the national road toll is now 20 percent higher than where it would need to be if the Strategy – agreed by federal, state, and territory governments – was ‘on track’ to meet its targeted pro rata reduction.
The organisation is calling on the Government to require states to publish road safety data to create an evidence base for more effective policy responses.
“The available numbers show Australia’s current approach to road safety is not working,” said AAA Managing Director, Michael Bradley.
“It is not good enough that the Commonwealth can only tell us how many people are dying on the nation’s roads, but they can tell us nothing regarding the causes of our rising rates of road trauma.
“The Government needs to create an evidence base that can enable more effective road safety policy, and for this to happen, states must publish the data they possess on the state of their roads, the crashes occurring on them, and the factors causing them.
“Publishing this data will allow all governments to work on practical policies to drive change and save lives.”
