After decades of a declining death toll, the number of people being killed on Australian roads is rising again. Road deaths peaked in the 1970s before falling for 40 years as seatbelt and drink-driving laws took effect, but that trend unexpectedly reversed in 2020.
"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."
University of Melbourne associate professor Milad Haghani said the increase is disturbing. "It appears some of the progress we've been making has been wiped away. 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."
Australia has slipped in international road safety rankings. Professor Teresa Senserrick, who heads the Centre for Road Safety Research at the University of Western Australia, said: "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."
Researchers have identified several contributing factors. Dr Haghani said evidence shows drug-driving has replaced drink-driving as the leading risk factor. "Drugs are now detected in the systems of nearly 17 per cent of people involved in fatal crashes, and that's a big concern."
Vehicle size is also a factor. Dr Haghani co-authored a study that found every extra 10 centimetres of vehicle height increases 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."
Professor Senserrick said speed limits have barely changed since the 1970s despite population growth and larger vehicles. She pointed to countries such as Spain, which slashed fatality rates by reducing urban speed limits to 30 kilometres per hour, and said policy-makers must be willing to push through changes that may be unpopular.
The Australian Automobile Association said too much speculation and not enough evidence-based policy was hampering progress. "Canberra is distributing billions of dollars, and we need to make sure money is being directed to what is actually working," Michael Bradley said.
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts said in a statement that the government contributes to road safety by overseeing the entry of safer vehicles, investing in infrastructure, and funding non-infrastructure initiatives.
For families like Yvonne Sampi's, the statistics represent real loss. Her son Mervyn was killed in a crash in 2017 while driving to a funeral. "It is devastating, and you never get over it," she said.