Motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of accidental death in Australia. On average, four people lose their lives every day on Australian roads with a further 90 people seriously injured. Since records began in 1925, there have been 180,000 deaths recorded from fatal road accidents. As well as the devastating social impact, these road accidents cost the Australian economy a colossal $18 billion each year.

While these figures do sound frightening, the good news is Australia’s road death toll has exhibited a steady, downward trend for the past several decades. This is in spite of considerable population growth and the countries registered vehicle fleet tripling in size. In 1970, the annual death toll from motor vehicle accidents stood at 3,798. This figure fell to 3,272 in 1980, 2,331 in 1990 and lower still in 2010 with 1,368 road deaths. Today, Australia has one of the lowest yearly road death counts per 100,000 inhabitants in the world.

In 2000, the government announced an ambitious National Road Safety Strategy which aimed to reduce Australia’s road fatality rate per 100,000 inhabitants by 40% from 9.3 in 1999 to no more than 5.6 in 2010.

Several steps the Commonwealth and State governments took to achieve this included progressively strengthening driver licensing programs and making significant investments in improving the safety of high-risk routes on the road network including targeted treatment of crash locations through Federal and state Black Spot programs.

The Australian Government also continued to administer the Australian Design Rules, a set of national standards for vehicle safety, anti-theft and emissions. Public information campaigns and consumer rating initiatives such as the Australasian New Car Assessment Program and the Used Car Safety Rating scheme were also used to promote vehicle safety.

High importance was placed on higher vehicle safety ratings and safety technology including ABS brakes, standard airbags, laminated glass used to replace car windshield and tempered glass side and rear windows etc.

Whilst significant progress was made during the decade from 2000 - 2010 in reducing the countries road death toll, the outcome fell short of the original goal, with only a 23 percent decrease in road deaths.

During the next decade, the issue of road safety, not just in Australia but around the world is going to remain a major focus thanks to the United Nations announcement of The Decade of Action for Road Safety. The UN resolution, signed by 100 nations including Australia has a vision to “stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world" by 2020.

As part of Australia’s involvement, in May 2011 the Australian Transport Council unveiled its new National Road Safety Strategy for the Decade. The strategy presents a commitment to reduce the nation’s yearly road death and injury toll by at least 30 per cent over the next decade. As part of the strategy, all State Governments have agreed to implement a number of actions, based on a Safe System approach, which aims to achieve Safe Roads, Safe Speeds, Safe Vehicles, and Safe People.

Jesse Wallace writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.