Editor’s view: Focus funding to help cut road toll

To see there have been more than 271 fatalities in the 12 months to June is a tragedy. One preventable death on our roads is one too many, writes the editor.

Queensland needs more road funding in the right places to prevent more deaths. And we need transparency.

One preventable death on our roads is one too many, so to see there have been more than 271 fatalities in the 12 months to June is a tragedy.

Better roads, improved conditions, guard rails and other upgrades can be vitally important to increasing road safety and minimising the risk of crashes.

But, as all governments lament, there is a finite amount of funding to go around so it has to be prioritised.

The trouble is, there is not enough transparency on where, how and why road funding and upgrades are allocated.

Too often, politicians with an eye toward the next election are the ones making the final call.

Without more information, we do not know if multimillion or even billion-dollar road upgrades are being made because it will have the best impact in reducing fatalities, or the best chance of winning a marginal seat.

The Australian Automobile Association has been calling for some time now for state governments to release more road safety data, including on where fatal crashes are occurring and on the number of accidents resulting in serious injuries, so funding can be better directed.

It also wants the federal government to tie its road funding to the states releasing this information.

AAA managing director Michael Bradley was right when he said you cannot improve on results if you’re not even measuring them.

Car safety technology has improved and record amounts of money are being spent on road upgrades, yet the national and state road tolls remain stubbornly high.

Any chance of meeting the nationally agreed to target of halving the country’s road toll from an average of 1142 to 571 fatalities in a year will require dramatic action.

There were 271 Queenslanders who lost their lives in traffic crashes in the 12 months to June 30, according to the AAA’s report.

While this is down slightly from the previous 12 months, when it was 292 deaths, there are still alarming statistics revealed.

Taking into account relative populations, Queensland had more people die on its roads than the national average.

There were 5.04 road deaths per 100,000 people in the Sunshine State, compared to 4.5 per 100,000 people nationally, 3.85 deaths per 100,000 people in NSW and 4.1 deaths per 100,000 people in Victoria.

Data tracked by the AAA shows this breakdown has been relatively consistent since at least 2020 – but it is also not showing great signs of improvement.

As the second largest Australian state, and the only one with more people living outside the capital city than inside, it has a vast road network of varying quality.

But this does not make it acceptable that more people are dying on our roads than the national average, proportionally speaking.

If Queensland’s road fatality rate was the same as NSW’s, 64 fewer people would have died on our roads in the past year alone.

It demonstrates why Queensland needs more road funding in the right places to prevent more deaths.

It shows why we need more transparency on where and why this money is spent.

Because one preventable death on Queensland roads is one too many.