Australia's rising road toll reverses hard-won safety improvements

After decades of a declining death toll, the number of people being killed on Australian roads is once again rising.

"Something is changing, and not for the better," said Australian Automobile Association managing director Michael Bradley.

"Cars have never been safer, we're spending a huge amount of money on roads, yet more people are dying.

"It's pretty confounding, and it's a trend we haven't seen for decades."

Road deaths peaked in the 1970s, before steadily declining for 40 years as seatbelt and drink-driving laws were introduced.

But that changed in 2020, when the trend unexpectedly reversed.

'You never get over it'

Australia is now on track for its sixth year in a row of increased fatalities, with the number of deaths to the end of September already the highest recorded in 15 years.

While the number of deaths remains low compared with previous decades, the rise is disturbing for road safety researchers like University of Melbourne associate professor Milad Haghani.

"It appears some of the progress we've been making has been wiped away," he said.

"The biggest increase in fatalities is among vulnerable road users like pedestrians, cyclists and motorbike riders, so that's something we need to be addressing."

The trend is pushing Australia further from its national target of halving road deaths by 2030 and reaching zero by 2050.

'It is devastating'

It is a chilling trend for the thousands of Australian families living with the ripple impacts of a preventable death.

Bardi woman Yvonne Sampi knows first-hand the visceral grief behind the numbers.

Her son, Mervyn, was killed as he drove to a family funeral in 2017.

The 31-year-old, who loved fishing and camping, left behind a young son.

"I think all mothers, when they lose their children, they think 'why has this happened?'" Ms Sampi told the ABC.

"It is devastating, and you never get over it."

What is causing the increase?

Australia's population growth can partly explain the increase in deaths.

The rate of fatalities per 100,000 people has remained relatively stable in recent years.

However, road safety advocates say the rising death toll is alarming given vehicles have never been safer, and road fatalities are reducing internationally.

Australia has plummeted in international road safety rankings, according to Professor Teresa Senserrick, who heads the Centre for Road Safety Research at the University of Western Australia.

"Just over two decades ago we had reached the top 10 of the best-performing OECD countries, and it was a very exciting time, so it's quite sad to look at the stats now and see we've only just scraped into the top 20 nations."

Nations such as Spain have slashed fatality rates by reducing speed limits, criminalising some dangerous driving practices, increasing enforcement and investing in high-speed rail.

Spain joined several other EU member states by reducing speed limits in urban areas to 30 kilometres per hour.

Professor Senserrick said policy-makers need to be willing to push through changes that may be unpopular with a vocal minority of voters.

"The speed limits we have in Australia have not changed much since … the 1970s," she said.

"During that time our population's grown, as well as the number of vehicles and size of vehicles, so we just can't continue while allowing such high speeds, both in urban areas and remote and regional areas where crashes are more likely to be fatal."

More drugs, less booze

Dr Haghani said there was evidence that drug use and bigger cars are factors contributing to the number of deaths.

"If you look back twenty years ago, the biggest risk factor in fatal crashes was drink-driving, but that's been replaced by drug-driving.

"Drugs are now detected in the systems of nearly 17 per cent of people involved in fatal crashes, and that's a big concern."

Every year the average Australian car is bigger and heavier, which can be safer for drivers but increases the risk of pedestrian deaths.

Dr Haghani this year co-authored a study that found every extra 10cm of vehicle height increased the odds of a pedestrian death by 11 per cent.

"If we do not regulate and create incentives for people to buy more reasonable size cars then this will continue, and we'll end up with a road eco-system that's increasingly risky for pedestrians and cyclists."

'Too much speculation'

Road crash data has never been so public or detailed, with online dashboards tracking deaths and infrastructure spend.

But the Australian Automobile Association said big gaps remained in knowledge of what was being done across states and territories.

General manager Michael Bradley pointed to the lag in serious crash data.

"We've got a national target to reduce serious injuries by 2030, but there's a three-year lag in the data available," he said.

"At the end of the days there's too much speculation and not enough evidence-based policy.

"Canberra is distributing billions of dollars, and we need to make sure money is being directed to what is actually working."

The Office of Road Safety did not respond to questions or a request for an interview.

Instead, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts said in a statement, "the Australian Government contributes to better road safety outcomes in a number of ways, including overseeing the entry of new, safer vehicles into the Australian market, making significant investments in infrastructure to build and maintain safer roads, and funding other non-infrastructure initiatives to improve road safety".

Where to from here?

The national target of eradicating traffic deaths by 2050 is linked to the roll-out of autonomous and connected vehicles, which can detect pedestrians and other hazards more precisely than humans.

According to Professor Senserrick, the technology is developing rapidly, and there are already applications to introduce the vehicles to Australia.

"However, it's going to take a long time to get enough turnover in the vehicle fleet to have lots of those vehicles in place, so it's important we continue with road safety policies if we're going to try to reach the national targets."