Australians living in regional areas are almost five times more likely to die in car crashes than those living in cities in 2022, the nation's peak motoring body says.
The grim statistic from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) analysis of the latest Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics figures comes as it releases a new report showing the national death toll is on the rise.
It found that since the National Road Safety Strategy began in January 2021, the annual road toll has risen by 9.8 per cent and state governments “remain unable to track most of their targets” of halving the number of road deaths by 2030 and reducing serious injuries by 30 per cent.
Nationally, there were 1204 deaths on Australian roads in the 12 months to March 2023, with every state and territory except New South Wales and the Northern Territory recording more deaths than the previous year.
Even in NSW, where the road toll has remained steady, the number of deaths on regional roads remained disproportionately higher than those in metro areas.
In 2022, the regional NSW rate was 9.3 road deaths per 100,000, which was more than five times higher than the metropolitan rate of 1.7.
AAA managing director Michael Bradley said these numbers “present a picture that should be of great concern” for people and families living across regional Australia.
“We need to understand the factors causing this metro/regional disparity and greater commonwealth road safety leadership through improved data collection is the key to making this possible,” he said.
Transport for NSW’s deputy secretary of safety, environment and regulation, Sally Webb said the department welcomed “any recommendations to help us achieve zero road trauma”.
“Any death or serious injury on our roads is one too many, which is why we are committed to reducing road trauma in New South Wales,” she said.
Webb said that while only a third of the population of NSW lived in regional areas, crashes on regional roads accounted for 69 per cent of the road toll.
“We know we need a sustained focus on improving safety in regional areas to achieve our new road safety targets,” she said.
Professor Max Cameron from the Monash University Accident Research Centre said car crashes in rural areas were more likely to be fatal because of the higher speeds involved.
“Your typical rural Australian road is one lane in each direction,” he said.
“Very quickly, you're off the edge and there's nothing really to stop you skidding or losing control.”
Prof Cameron said Australia should consider lowering speed limits on rural roads that are not of “high quality” as a short term solution to addressing the high fatality rates in the regions.
“We've got the mindset that we've got to get from A to B as fast as we can,” he said.
“But really, every journey, you're taking your life in your hands and it doesn't take much at those sorts of speeds to have a crash that results in a fatality or serious injuries.”