05/08/2025
Australia records its WORST road toll in 15 years after more than 1,300 people were killed on roads across the country
National Road Safety Strategy is not working
Nowhere is on track to meet the 2030 target
By ZAK WHEELER
Published: 23:57 AEST, 2 August 2025 | Updated: 23:57 AEST, 2 August 2025
Australia's road safety record is backsliding with new data revealing motorist-related deaths have reached the highest level in 15 years.
The National Road Safety Strategy is being called into question after 1,329 people died on the country's roads in the year to June 30 - the highest on record since 2010.
Quarterly benchmarking from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) showed that no state or territory was on track to reach the target of halving fatalities by 2030.
Since 2021, when the National Road Safety Strategy was introduced, there has been a 21.1 per cent increase in road deaths, the data found.
Despite many states testing out new types of speed cameras and other technology, the number of deaths in 2025 somehow crept up by 3.3 per cent compared to 2024
The only areas of Australia that have seen a decrease in road deaths for the same period, last year, were South Australia and the Northern Territory.
However, that did not mean the Northern Territory had a spotless record, with the territory carrying the highest rate of deaths per 100,000 residents.
Data revealed 19 people per 100,000 died on roads in the Northern Territory, followed by 8.3 people in Tasmania, 6.1 in Western Australia, 5.3 in Queensland, 4.4 in South Australia, 4.2 in both NSW and Victoria and 1.7 in the Australian Capital Territory.
Data revealed 1,329 people have died on Aussie roads in the 12 months to June 2025 - the highest road toll since 2010
Data revealed 1,329 people have died on Aussie roads in the 12 months to June 2025 - the highest road toll since 2010
The Australian Automobile Association has called the government's National Road Safety Strategy into question
+4View gallery
The Australian Automobile Association has called the government's National Road Safety Strategy into question
Managing Director of the AAA, Michael Bradley, said the government's strategy was 'clearly not working'.
'Our National Road Safety Strategy is clearly not working as planned and governments cannot expect to get better results by pursuing the same failed approach,' Mr Bradley said.
The AAA represents state-based motoring clubs and boasts 9.5 million members.
The Benchmarking Report drew data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) statistics.
The data is used to assess which parts of Australia are on track to reach the government's 2030 goal.
However, the report showed Australia was not on track, as 192 pedestrians died in the year leading to June - an increase of 15 per cent compared to the previous year.
In the same period, 38 cyclists were killed and a whopping 264 motorcyclists died on Aussie roads across the country.
The AAA said it hoped to shed light on the country's growing road toll in order to 'de-politicise road funding and to enable evidence-based safety interventions'.
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said whatever the government is doing clearly is not working
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said whatever the government is doing clearly is not working
Mr Bradley did, however, applaud NSW for releasing previously secret data showing how safe its roads really were
Mr Bradley did, however, applaud NSW for releasing previously secret data showing how safe its roads really were
Previously, secret safety ratings of NSW's roads were released by its state government in July.
The data showed 71 per cent of roads received a mere three out of five stars under the Australian Road Assessment Program's (ARAP) road assessment scheme.
Mr Bradley applauded the government for having the courage to release the data.
'This national leadership is to be congratulated, and it will save lives by improving transparency, accountability, and by ensuring road investment dollars get spent where they are most needed,' Mr Bradley said.
Mr Bradley added it was a step in the right direction that the Commonwealth had recently tied its funding of state roads with the provision of road safety crash data.
'However, it too needs to do more to publish and analyse the valuable information it is now collecting,' Mr Bradley said.
ARAP rates roads based on analysis of risk factors which include the measures in place to keep drivers safe.
The measures include, average daily traffic, speed limit, number of lanes in each direction, lane width, shoulder width, presence or absence of roadside barriers and rumble strips, gradient and curvature, quality of line markings, skid resistance, whether the road is single or dual carriageway and provisions for pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
