Why has Australia’s road tolls increased, despite speed cameras and safer cars?

Road tolls in Australia continue to rise despite the rise of new increasingly safer cars, with pedestrian deaths particularly a concern.

Government data shows the number of road deaths in Australia for March 2023 was 107, while the 12-month period ending March 2023 had 1204 road deaths.

These numbers mean an increase of 2.3% and 5.9% respectively over the respective periods in previous years, with the latter equivalent to 67 more people killed.

All age groups (from 8-16 years old to over 75 years old) saw percentage increases, both men (3.8% to 885 deaths) and women (12.8% to 318 deaths) deaths).

While the increase in road deaths was tracked in various groups of road users, the spike in pedestrian deaths was particularly alarming – an increase of 22.6 % compared with the same period last year.

While one could suspect this was due to the time the lockdown ended, the most recent number of pedestrian deaths was higher than in the period immediately before COVID (163 vs 159).

This development has once again prompted the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) to require more detailed data on road injuries to be made public, to help guide policy in addressing the worrying trend.

The AAA is the apex body of State-based motor clubs such as NRMA and RACV.

AAA chief executive Michael Bradley said: “The death toll is still on the rise, but we do not yet have national data on crash causes, serious injuries, road quality or information. details of people and vehicles involved.

“We know that the number of pedestrian deaths increased by 22.6% in the 12 months to March 31. But we do not know the reason for this increase.”

EQUAL we have reported beforeAAA’s Budget 2023-24 submission calls for the Australian Government to provide federal road funding to states and territories that depend on “greater transparency of state-held road collision data” .

The AAA thinks we have road fatalities by vehicle type, gender, age and region, but having more insights can help refine policy.

“This will allow drivers and taxpayers to assess what is happening and will guide effective road safety measures,” Mr. Bradley said.

“It makes no sense for governments to set targets on road safety without publishing relevant data on what is working and what is failing.”

While new cars are getting safer, more and more people are dying on local roads. The number of road deaths in calendar year 2018 was 1135, while this number has increased to 1192 in 2022. The number of deaths in the first quarter of 2023 is 4% higher.

Its much worse in regions than in cities. According to the highest body of Australian-based driving clubs, Australians in sparsely populated areas are five times more likely to die from a traffic accident than people in urban areas. .

contemporary data from the Bureau of Economic Research on Infrastructure and Transport shows that the per capita road death rate for rural Australians in 2022 is 10.6 deaths per 100,000 people, in when the corresponding rate for urban Australians is 2.24 deaths per 100,000.

In addition to calling for more data transparency, the AAA is also demanding road funding reform that essentially ensures every penny of fuel consumption revenue goes back to the road.

Based on its researchonly 54% of excise tax money has been reinvested in road transport projects over the past decade.

Road fatalities by region from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, compared to the same period in previous years:

Road deaths by type of road user From April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, compared to the same period in previous years: