Regional motorists are at greater road risk than city drivers
Australians in rural and regional areas are five times more likely than their city counterparts to die in a road crash, according to new data from the nation’s peak motoring body.
The Australian Automobile Association says the latest available data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics shows 818 Australians died on rural and regional roads in 2023 – the equivalent of 11.21 deaths per 100,000 population.
In the same period, 436 people – or 2.25 per 100,000 population – died on metropolitan roads.
Two thirds of road fatalities occur in regional areas and this figure has remained unchanged since 2017, when the Commonwealth began collecting such data.
| State or territory |
Regional road deaths | Metro road deaths | Unknown | Metro road deaths per 100,000 population | Regional road deaths per 100,000 population | Regional vs metro death rate ratio |
| ACT | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0.64 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| NSW | 228 | 112 | 0 | 1.77 | 11.30 | 6.38 |
| NT | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 11.88 | N/A |
| QLD | 195 | 82 | 0 | 2.30 | 10.28 | 4.46 |
| SA | 67 | 50 | 0 | 3.57 | 14.85 | 4.16 |
| TAS | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 6.11 | N/A |
| VIC | 172 | 123 | 0 | 2.32 | 11.44 | 4.94 |
| WA | 91 | 66 | 1 | 2.90 | 15.07 | 5.20 |
| NATIONAL | 818 | 436 | 3 | 2.25 | 11.21 | 4.97 |
Source: Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics statistics and Australian Bureau of Statistics.
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said: “These figures show more needs to be done to reduce regional road deaths, but they cannot tell us the whole story about road trauma in Australia.
“What is really needed is the use of suitable data to inform the identification and selection of road upgrades.”
Mr Bradley said almost 500,000km of roads across the nation had been subject to safety audits using the independent Australian Road Assessment Program’s five-star rating system, also used in 131 other countries.
But these ratings are not made public.
“Transparent use of AusRAP ratings when governments fund road projects would give Australians a clearer picture of the state of our roads and also show whether funding is being directed to road projects which can save the most lives,’’ Mr Bradley said.
“AusRAP considers factors, including traffic volumes and engineering attributes, to produce its star ratings and this data should be baked into the process of prioritising road investment.
“It would save lives and also enable Australians to make their own assessments of government funding decisions.”
Throughout the campaign for the May 3 federal election, the AAA is asking all parties to agree to publish AusRAP ratings with all major road funding announcements.
Mr Bradley said: “In 2024, 1,306 people died on our roads. We’ve had four consecutive years of increases in road deaths, something that hasn’t happened since the 1960s.
“Australian voters deserve to know that our political parties are focused on fixing our most dangerous roads, not just throwing money at the marginal seats they need to win the election.”
Australian motorists can engage with the campaign and learn more about AusRAP safety ratings via mysafetycounts.org.au