Australia’s road safety improvement sees record low for fatalities

Continued road safety improvements are being seen in Australia, following the implementation of a series of strategic moves. In New South Wales, the latest official data shows that road fatalities for 2014 were the lowest since 1923 and down some 40% compared with 10 years ago. Some cause for concern however has been seen with the 45% increase in deaths caused by the non-use of seat belts. There were 309 road deaths in New South Wales in 2014, compared with 333 in 2013. Across the other side of the count
January 5, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Continued road safety improvements are being seen in Australia, following the implementation of a series of strategic moves. In New South Wales, the latest official data shows that road fatalities for 2014 were the lowest since 1923 and down some 40% compared with 10 years ago. Some cause for concern however has been seen with the 45% increase in deaths caused by the non-use of seat belts. There were 309 road deaths in New South Wales in 2014, compared with 333 in 2013.

Across the other side of the country in Western Australia, the authorities are also taking steps to tackle bad driving and improve road safety. The police plan to issue warning letters to those drivers deemed a safety risk, as part of a strategy intended to reduce the number of road deaths in the state. The number plate of the drivers will also be flagged on a computer system. In several rural areas, people who have various driving convictions and accumulate a large number of demerit points will receive a personally delivered warning letter from the police.

Related Content

  • Greater risk to pedestrians from safer cars?
    March 11, 2016
    A new study the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) in the US reveals that pedestrian deaths are increasing. The study is based on preliminary data from the State Highway Safety Offices. Following adjustments to that data for underreporting, the GHSA study estimates that pedestrian deaths increased 10% in the first half of 2015 compared with the previous year. Even without the adjustment, pedestrian deaths were still 6% greater, at 2,368 for 2015 than 2014.
    Read More
  • World road safety status hits plateau
    May 27, 2016
    The World Health Organisation has published a new report on road safety during 2015. Its global status report uses information from 180 countries and indicates that the total number of road traffic deaths has plateaued at 1.25 million/year worldwide. The annual global road fatality rate has remained roughly the same since 2007, a point worth noting considering growing vehicle numbers around the globe. Low income countries remain those of most concern for this report as in previous years. But some progress i
    Read More
  • Norway tops European Traffic Safety Council safety table again
    June 25, 2019
    For the fourth consecutive year, Norway has topped traffic safety in the Europe Union as reported by the European Traffic Safety Council (ETSC). In 2018, the number of persons killed on Norwegian roads was 20 per million inhabitants. Next lowest was Switzerland with 27 per million inhabitants, followed by the UK with 30. Romania was the worst country with 96 killed per million inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria with 87 and Serbia with 78. The EU average was 49. Norway had 108 persons were killed in
    Read More
  • Major road safety improvement identified in Northern Germany
    January 31, 2013
    A series of measures carried out in Northern Germany have had a notable effect on improving road safety. The latest data available reveals that in 2012, the number of people killed in road crashes dropped by 17% compared with the previous year for the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Tougher police enforcement on speeding is reckoned to be a major factor in reducing North Rhine-Westphalia’s road fatality rate to 526, compared with 634 in 2011. The police data shows that the tougher enforcemen
    Read More

Highlighted Content