Australia’s most deadly roads and state in 2024

Australian roads have always been a danger and there is new evidence that things are getting worse.

Queensland’s road toll has outstripped that of other states.

Queensland has recorded the highest road toll in Australia this year, new data has revealed.

And Australia’s peak motoring body called on governments to fast-track road safety reforms as new figures show November was the deadliest month on the nation’s roads since 2017.

The latest Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics monthly statistics show 1318 people died on Australian roads in the 12 months to 30 November – up 6.1 per cent from the previous corresponding period (1242).

November was the deadliest month on Australian roads in almost seven years with 129 fatalities, the highest figure since December 2017’s 130 road deaths.

Australian Automobile Association managing director Michael Bradley said the increase highlighted the failings of Australia’s current road safety intervention and the need to fast-track moves to dig deeper into road crash data to identify more effective policies.

“Earlier this year state and territory governments agreed to end years of secrecy about crash data, including engineering reports on the quality of our roads,’’ Mr Bradley said.

“These latest figures, which come as millions of Australians hit the roads for the Christmas holiday period, remind us there is no time to waste in tackling our road safety crisis.’’

The bureau figures revealed road deaths had increased in Queensland (8.6 per cent), NSW (4.5 per cent), Victoria (1.4 per cent), Western Australia (7.8 per cent), and Tasmania (3.2 per cent) over the last 12 months.

Fatalities also surged in the ACT (266.7 per cent) and the Northern Territory (103.4 per cent).

The data also revealed no state was on track to achieve its targets under the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30, which aims to halve road deaths from a 2018-2020 baseline.

Police will be out in force over the Christmas period.

Under reforms in August as part of the Federation Funding Agreement on transport infrastructure, states and territories agreed to publish safety ratings of the nation’s roads produced under Australian Road Assessment Program protocols, which assess roads under a five-star rating system.

More than 450,000km of Australian roads have been rated under the AusRAP protocols, which examine characteristics of roads design.

But despite states and territories having also agreed to release the ratings five years ago, they are still being kept secret.

“Publishing this critical data would shed light on how road conditions affect the nation’s worsening road toll,’’ Mr Bradley said.

“We’d have a better idea about which roads are most in need of investment to save lives.

“The transparency would also clip the wings of politicians tempted to invest in roads to win marginal electorates, rather than to save lives.’’

Mr Bradley said Australia’s vehicle fleet had never been safer, enormous effort was being dedicated to driver training, and tens of billions of dollars are spent annually on roads network – yet our road trauma figures have continued to worsen.

“Australia desperately needs an evidence-based approach to a crisis that’s now killing more than 100 Australians every month and hospitalising 100 Australians every day,’’ he said.

“Australia’s governments should be commended for finally agreeing to publish the data they collect about the quality of our road network and the factors causing fatality crashes across

Australia.

“Now they must use that data to drive real change that will save lives.’’

Originally published as Australia’s most deadly roads and state in 2024