Pedestrian deaths are driving up the road toll

Australia’s 15-year high road toll is largely attributable to a sharp increase in pedestrian deaths, says the Australian Automobile Association (AAA).

According to new data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics, a sharp increase in pedestrian deaths in the 12 months to July 31 pushed Australia’s road deaths to their highest level for any corresponding period in 15 years.

A total of 1340 people died on the nation’s roads in the 12 months to July 31 – 2.9 per cent more than in the equivalent period a year earlier, and the worst result since 1395 deaths were recorded in the corresponding period in 2010.

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The death toll included 205 pedestrians – up 44, or 27.3 per cent, from the previous corresponding period.

Since 2021, when Australian governments adopted a National Road Safety Strategy target of halving road deaths by 2030, total road fatalities have increased by 22.2 per cent.

In the same period, fatalities among pedestrians have increased by 48.6 per cent.

Source: Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics statistics

On a state-by-state basis, the biggest increases in road deaths in the year to July 31 were in Tasmania (up 41.9 per cent), the ACT (up 12.7 per cent) and Western Australia (12.7 per cent), while road deaths declined in the Northern Territory (down 31.3 per cent) and South Australia (down 9.4 per cent).

However, the Northern Territory recorded the nation’s highest rate of road deaths per 100,000 residents, at 16.8, followed by Tasmania (7.6), Western Australia (6.8), Queensland (5.3), South Australia (4.6), Victoria (4.3), NSW (4.2), and the ACT (1.7).

Meantime, men accounted for 993 road deaths in the 12 months to July 31 – down 1.6 per cent on the same period in 2024. But female road deaths increased to 346 – up 18.9 per cent.

The increase in pedestrian deaths was driven by sharp rises in WA (31 deaths – up from 14 a year earlier) and Queensland, where there were 37 deaths – up from 23 a year earlier.

“The National Road Safety Strategy is falling well short of its targets,” said Michael Bradley, the managing director of the AAA, which represents Australia’s state-based motoring clubs and their 9.5 million members.

Echoing the comments he made earlier this month, when Australia’s road toll hit a 15-year high during the 12 months to June 30, Mr Bradley said the AAA is concerned by the lack of clarity regarding the factors driving the increase.

“Governments must look closely at their road trauma data to find out why, then take corrective action to save lives.”

However, he noted that the nation’s transport and infrastructure ministers agreed at a meeting in Melbourne last week that the WA government would work with the National Transport Commission to produce a draft national integrated regulatory framework on pedestrian safety relating to personal mobility devices.

Coincidentally, Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission also issued a press release today highlighting the fact speeding claimed 400 lives across the country and more than 4100 in the past decade, compared with an average of just six annual deaths from sharks, crocodiles or snakes between 2001 and 2021.

The TAC says it surveyed more than 1000 Australians and found that most perceive dangerous wildlife as a greater threat than speeding, which it claims is a factor in around one-third of road fatalities in both Victoria and nationally.

When asked what they found to be ‘extremely dangerous’, 74.5 per cent of respondents said venomous snakes, followed by crocodiles (68.8 per cent) and sharks (61.8 per cent), but only 11.2 per cent felt that driving 5km/h over the speed limit was extremely dangerous, increasing to 29.8 per cent when considering driving 10km/h over the limit.

To highlight this “stark disconnect”, the TAC has launched a new exhibit in central Melbourne “to challenge common perceptions of danger, and prompt visitors to reflect on their own driving behaviour”.

Situated on the plaza between Melbourne Museum and the Royal Exhibition Centre, the Australia’s Deadliest Predator exhibit replicates a dangerous zoo animal enclosure and features a re-enactment of a car that has crashed after losing control due to speeding.

“Australia’s Deadliest Predator unapologetically calls out the social acceptance of speeding in a novel way, which we hope will encourage road users to slow down and stay within speed limits,” said TAC CEO Tracey Slatter.

“The data and research are clear – speed kills, and the only way we can prevent the tragic loss of life is to drive within the speed limit every time we use our roads.

“We will continue to use thought‐provoking initiatives such as Australia’s Deadliest Predator to drive home the dangers of speeding until we realise a future where no one dies or is injured on our roads,” Ms Slatter said.

So far this year 186 lives have been lost on Victorian roads – up from 180 in the same period last year.

MORE: Australia’s road toll hits 15-year high