Peak motoring body sheets road deaths home to bad roads

NATION'S peak motoring body says governments must take the blame for unsafe roads that have been a significant factor in the resurgence of road deaths.

AAA executive director Andrew McKellar

A RESURGENCE in road deaths is a "national tragedy" for which governments must take the blame for not making the road network safer, according to the nation's peak motoring body.

The Australian Automobile Association said the condition of roads was "the missing link" in public discussions of a road toll which jumped to 1300 nationwide last year, the first increase since 2009.

Road deaths per capita in Queensland were above the national average, and second-highest among the mainland states, at 5.99 per 100,000 people.

AAA executive director Andrew McKellar said while cars had become safer in recent years, roads had not.

Governments "too often blame drivers" and were not held to account for their own role in the road toll, he said.

This included a failure to make "simple investments like better lane markings and signage".

"One out of five national highways are still rated high risk and this just isn't good enough," he said.

Mr McKellar said there was "no doubt" the data would show road conditions were a critical factor in a significant share of fatal crashes.

The AAA said Australia was now at risk of falling behind its 2020 target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 30 per cent.

The growing number of serious injuries was the flip side to modern improvements in car safety that have facilitated a long-term decline in deaths from accidents.

The AAA also said the injury toll also raised the issue of the cost of car accidents to the community through the healthcare system.

"Our research has found that every year more than 30,000 people are seriously injured," Mr McKellar said.

"This is the equivalent of a decent-sized country town, and it cries out to be addressed."

State Traffic Support Branch acting Superintendent Paul Fogg said while families were affected forever by road deaths, so were the police who investigate them.

"I've been in the job 30 years and I can almost remember every fatal crash and every person involved," he said.

"It doesn't go away.

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Road deaths per 100,000 population in 2012:

NT 20.49
WA 7.91
TAS 6.44
QLD 5.99
(AUST 5.74)
SA 5.64
NSW 5.08
VIC 4.99
ACT 3.33