WA road toll surpasses 2025 total after five die in two days

Three of the five fatalities occurred on Friday morning in a single crash on Yilliminning Road towards Narrogin. A 23-year-old man, a 22-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man died when their car left the road and hit trees. Two more deaths followed: a 35-year-old man died on Friday evening in Dudley Park, near Mandurah, after his Kawasaki motorcycle collided with a Triumph motorcycle; and a 41-year-old man died on Saturday night in Mumballup, south-east of Bunbury, after his car left the road and struck a tree. The rider of the Triumph motorcycle sustained non-life-threatening injuries. All five people were declared deceased at the scene. The majority of the people who died were in regional areas.

Back in July, head of communications at insurer RAC Rhys Heron warned that “if we keep going the way we’re going, we will likely see more than 200 people killed on our roads for the first time in 18 years.”

Shadow Minister for Road Safety Julie Freeman said it was a “heartbreaking milestone that no Western Australian wanted to see”. “My thoughts are with the families, friends and communities grieving these devastating losses, particularly in Narrogin where three young lives were taken far too soon,” she said. “Every road death is one too many, but the fact we’ve already surpassed last year’s toll with weeks still to come should be setting off alarm bells.”

Freeman said regional communities continued to carry a disproportionate share of the road toll, highlighting the need for greater investment in practical road safety improvements. “For years we’ve seen the same tragic patterns repeated on regional roads, yet too many high-risk stretches remain without the safety upgrades proven to save lives,” she said. “Money collected through the Road Trauma Trust Account should be directed towards delivering safer regional roads through shoulder sealing, audible edge lines, overtaking lanes and other evidence-based improvements, not diverted into government administration. We cannot accept rising road deaths as inevitable.”

The government has previously stated it is tipping millions of dollars into regional point-to-point speed cameras over the coming years, alongside an investment in school zone speed enforcement and a plan to double the number of safety camera trailers on WA roads. A WA Road Safety Commission spokesperson said the issue was complex, challenging, constantly changing, “and it requires a unified community-driven approach to reduce fatalities”.

Freeman urged motorists travelling in the lead-up to Christmas to drive to the conditions, avoid fatigue and make safety their priority.