Australia has just endured its “deadliest 12 months on the road since 2010”, according to the latest statistics, as fatalities of vulnerable road users rises.
Australia's increasing road toll is leaving more questions than answers as the latest fatality data shows a year-on-year increase of 4.8 per cent to 1337 deaths to the end of May this year.
The surge is largely attributed to the increase in deaths of cyclists (up 36.7% to 41 deaths) and pedestrians (up 15.7% to 192 deaths) over the 12-month period, but drivers and passengers still make up the majority of fatalities (about 816 or 61% of the total) on Aussie roads.
The National Road Safety Strategy (2021-30) aims to “reduce the annual number of fatalities by at least 50 per cent” by 2030 and wants to put Australia “on a path to achieve ‘Vision Zero’ or zero deaths and serious injuries on our roads by 2050”.
However, the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) is calling the idealistic goals of the Federal Government out of reach, given the latest figures.
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said in a media statement that road tolls have noticeably increased since the implementation of the strategy, and called for a major overhaul.
“Far from halving roads deaths as planned, this latest data shows this Strategy has seen fatalities increase 21.9 per cent since its inception,’’ Bradley said.
“This Strategy saw governments commit to road safety interventions that are either not working or not being delivered.
“The upcoming review needs to urgently clarify what’s working, what’s not, and how we need to change the way we’re managing road trauma across Australia.”
The harrowing statistics of this year and the year before are as follows:
| State | Road deaths in 12 months to May 31, 2024 | Road deaths in 12 months to May 31, 2025 | Increase | Percentage change |
| NSW | 349 | 350 | 1 | 0.3% |
| VIC | 283 | 299 | 16 | 5.7% |
| QLD | 286 | 303 | 17 | 5.9% |
| SA | 96 | 88 | -8 | -8.3% |
| TAS | 173 | 194 | 21 | 12.1% |
| WA | 30 | 43 | 13 | 43.3% |
| NT | 52 | 51 | -1 | -1.9% |
| ACT | 7 | 9 | 2 | 28.6% |
| Australia | 1276 | 1337 | 61 | 4.8% |
State-by-state, the location with the largest increase in the death toll this year were Tasmania (43.3%), the ACT (28.6%), Western Australia (12.1%), Queensland (5.9%), and Victoria (5.7%).
Only South Australia and the Northern Territories saw a decrease in the road toll by 8.3 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.
While there is no report of the specifics leading to the rising death toll, experts have commented on distracted driving, speeding, and drug influence to be major factors.
Ilana is a Melbourne-based journalist who was previously a copywriter in the Big Apple. Having moved to Melbourne for her Master of Journalism, she has written articles about food, farm machinery, fashion, and now the fast and furious. Her dream car has been a Mini Cooper since the fifth grade, eyeing it’s style and petite size.
