Reset needed as road deaths rise again

"The last time the 12-month road deaths total was lower than in the previous corresponding period was May 2023," AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said.

"Since the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 began in January 2021, crash fatalities have risen by 19.7 per cent."

All Australian governments agreed to the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30. This Strategy aims to halve national road fatalities through the decade to 2030. But five years in, it has instead delivered an ongoing increase in road deaths, and three of its five headline targets remain unmeasurable.

The AAA notes that the Australian Government is currently reviewing the Strategy.

"The Federal Government must use this review to correct this years-long surge in road trauma by enhancing the Commonwealth's role in transport safety," Mr Bradley said.

In the 12 months to 31 January 2026, Australia's road toll rose by 0.7% to 1,313 fatalities. Crash fatalities rose particularly sharply in NSW (up 17.3%) and Tasmania (up 36.4%).

Source: National Road Safety Data Hub

Mr Bradley said: "There is plenty of speculation about why road deaths are rising nationally and why they are worse in some states than others. But we need more than guesswork to curb this growing crisis.

"The starting point to addressing our worsening road toll is gathering hard facts that help us understand what's causing it to rise in the first place.

"The AAA is calling on the Commonwealth to extend its powers to conduct no-blame investigations of transport fatalities beyond aviation, rail, and maritime incidents

"The Government could begin with a targeted pilot focusing on one of the road safety issues of greatest concern, such as fatalities involving heavy vehicles, pedestrians or e-mobility devices.

"Learnings from a pilot project would not only show us how no-blame investigations can help identify the underlying causes of road crashes, but also what could be done to stop more deaths and injuries occurring in the future.

"Reducing road trauma requires better roads, regulatory change and public education campaigns. All of these would be better targeted, more evidence-based, and more effective if informed by a national no-blame investigation approach."

In the 12 months to 31 January 2025, the Northern Territory recorded the nation's highest rate of crash fatalities per 100,000 residents - 13.2 - despite its decline in annual road deaths, But in the previous corresponding period, the NT's fatality rate had been even higher - 23.4.

The jurisdiction with the second-highest fatality rate was Tasmania (7.8, up from 5.7 in the previous corresponding period), followed by Western Australia (6.2, unchanged), Queensland (5.3, down from 5.5), South Australia (4.6, down from 5.1), NSW (4.3, up from 3.7), Victoria (3.9, down from 4.3) and the ACT (2.5, up from 2.1). The national fatality rate was 4.8 (unchanged from the previous corresponding period).

Deaths among vulnerable road users (people not travelling in a car, bus or truck) rose by 2.2% in the 12 months to 31 January 2026. There were 517 vulnerable road user fatalities (199 pedestrians, 269 motorcyclists and 49 cyclists). However, motorcyclist deaths fell 6.9% from the previous corresponding period, while pedestrian deaths rose 13.7% and cyclist deaths rose 16.7%.