Road death toll remains stubbornly high

Australia’s peak motoring body, the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), today released its Benchmarking the Performance of the National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) report for the June 2017 quarter which shows the number of people killed on Australian roads remains at unacceptably high levels.

The Report, which tracks progress against the NRSS target of reducing road deaths by at least 30 per cent by 2020 finds:

• That in the 12 months to June 2017, there were 1,241 fatalities on Australian roads, a small decrease from 1,258 for the same period last year.
• Over the past 12 months, the number of motorcyclists killed has increased from 229 to 240 (an increase of 4.8%)
• 253 people have died on Queensland roads, compared to 244 deaths in the same period in 2016 (an increase of 3.7%)
• 181 people were killed on Western Australian roads, up from 169 over the same period in 2016 (an increase of 7.1%)
• Other states remained the same or saw small reductions in the number of deaths.

The report finds that the National Road Safety Strategy has so far delivered a reduction in the annual road toll of 13 per cent. Given the decade-long strategy has only three years to run, it is becoming clear it will not deliver the targeted 30 per cent reduction in road deaths.

The AAA has called for a national inquiry to thoroughly understand what is causing more than 1,200 people to lose their lives on Australian roads each year, and around 800 per week to be seriously injured. The AAA sees this as an important step in developing effective road safety policy for the future.

The AAA welcomed the Government’s Budget night commitment to hold a national inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy and looks forward to playing an active part in that inquiry.