NSW road death toll soars by 33 per cent, raises questions over federal safety funding

Road deaths in NSW have increased by more than 30 per cent in the last year, outstripping every other state in the nation.

Road deaths in NSW have increased by more than 30 per cent in the last year, outstripping every other state in the nation, with the country’s peak motoring body calling on the federal government to do more to stop the soaring number of deaths.

New analysis by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) shows that NSW’s road toll climbed by 33.3 per cent, with 364 deaths in the year until March 31 2024.

The new figure is a sharp jump from the 273 deaths recorded the year before in NSW.

The next highest increase to the death toll was in Victoria, which grew by 13.2 per cent, from 257 deaths to 291.

Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development of Australia during Question Time in Parliament House. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Nationally, the death toll grew by 8.2 per cent – with 1,286 road deaths in the last year, compared to 1,188 the year before.

AAA managing director Michael Bradley said the federal government – which last year ripped $3.5 billion out of key infrastructure projects including road upgrades across regional and metropolitan across NSW – had to share more data on the nature of the accidents leading to deaths on roads.

The AAA says that extra data – which describes each jurisdiction’s road quality, the causes of fatality crashes, and the effectiveness of respective law enforcement regimes – can be used to better dictate how Commonwealth roads funding is spent, in a bid to cut down on deaths.

The latest statistics have led to the AAA calling on the Albanese Government to honour a commitment to publish THE data on road accidents, citing a pre-election pledge from now-federal infrastructure Minister Catherine King to “extract better quality road data from the states and territories in return for funding of road projects”.

Mr Bradley said the Albanese Government should end the secrecy around crash data, and use the information to make better funding decisions.

Michael Bradley, Australian Automobile Association managing director.

“The continued rise in Australia’s road toll can’t be ignored any longer and the time has come for the Australian Government to fulfil its election promise and end the needless secrecy surrounding state-held road safety data,” Mr Bradley said.

“Australia needs a data-driven response to a problem killing more than 100 people every month, and as we enter another election year, it’s time our state and federal leaders showed their commitment to saving lives is greater than their desire to save marginal seats.”

Infrastructure and transport Minister Catherine King said the Commonwealth Government was working with state and territory governments to provide “enhanced data sharing to increase access to vital data” to drive the death toll down.

“Road safety is the responsibility of all levels of Government. Every death on Australian roads is not just a statistic, but someone’s family member, friend and loved one,” she said.

While promising there’d be “more to say in the budget context” next month, she said the federal government had also increased Black Spot funding to make roads safer from $110m to $150m a year.

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Originally published as NSW road death toll soars by 33 per cent, raises questions over federal safety funding