National rate of road deaths per 100,000 people is at 4.87, the lowest rate since records began, as fatality numbers fell in NSW, Queensland and Tasmania

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The number of deaths on Australian roads in 2014 has continued a long-term decline, to reach the lowest rate since records began.



Figures for 2014 from state and territory police, combined with historical figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics show the rate of road deaths per 100,000 people is at 4.87, the lowest since at least 1925, when the bureau’s figures begin.

Earlier figures from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau show the rate per 100,000 has never been lower since national records were first collected in 1925. The total number of road deaths in 2014 was 1,155, down from 1,192 in 2013. It is the lowest national number in absolute terms since 1945.

The road toll per 100,000 people declined in NSW, Queensland and Tasmania, with increases in the other states and territories.

Queensland’s police minister, Andrew Powell, said his state had its lowest toll since records began in 1952, but while the decrease was a good sign, there were still far too many deaths.

“It’s bittersweet because there are still 223 families that are grieving over this festive season,” he said.

Powell said better behaviour among motorists, and government initiatives, including extra police and anti-hooning laws, had led to safer roads.

In Victoria, police said more pedestrian deaths, drivers affected by the drug ice, and multiple-fatality crashes were behind the first rise in Victoria’s annual road toll in eight years.

Assistant commissioner Robert Hill said two quadruple-fatality and three triple-fatality crashes helped push the toll higher.

“We had five collisions, which claimed a total of 17 lives. There were no triple or quadruple collisions in 2013, and I hope we don’t see devastation on that scale ever again,” he said.

Of the 44 pedestrians killed in Victoria, 16 were alcohol- or drug-affected, 12 were killed at night, four were lying or asleep on the road and two were wearing headphones and distracted.

“Pedestrians are amongst our most vulnerable road users and, tragically, we have had 44 reminders of that vulnerability,” Hill said.

Hill said the danger of drug-driving was clear, with three people killed and four injured when a man affected by ice ran a red light at high speed and hit a car and a pedestrian.

He said Victorian police would expand drug testing in 2015, and planned to conduct 100,000 tests by October.