On average, four people are killed and 90 are seriously injured every day on Australia's roads with motor vehicle accidents being the country’s number one single cause of accidental death.
Road crashes cost the Australian economy an enormous $18 billion each year, not to mention the devastating social impact they have. Since records began in 1925, a frightening 180,000 deaths have occurred on Australian roads, however road accident levels have been steadily declining over the last several decades in spite of significant population growth and triple the amount of registered vehicles. In 1970, the yearly road death toll stood at 3,798 and has fallen to 1,368 in 2010.
In the 70s and 80s, drink driving was Australia’s biggest road safety challenge, but since the introduction of random breath testing in 1982 and a change in public attitude towards drink driving being unacceptable, alcohol related accidents have decreased.
Speeding is now the most common contributing factor to Australian road fatalities. For example, in NSW speeding is the main factor responsible for approximately 40 per cent of road fatalities, which equates to 200 dying each year in NSW from speeding. In addition to this, more than 4200 people suffer injuries from speed related crashes each year.
The reduction in road fatalities over the last forty years could be in part due to stricter policing, lower public tolerance of negligent driving and advances in safety technology and stricter safety standards on vehicles including ABS brakes, standard airbags, car glass replacement with laminated windshields and tempered glass side and rear windows etc.
Road accidents and fatalities are not just a national problem. It is estimated 1.3 million people die on the world’s roads every year with a further 50 million people suffering from non-fatal injuries.
In response to these frightening figures, in March 2010 the United Nations announced the decade from 2011 – 2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety with a goal to "stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world" by 2020.
One hundred nations - including Australia - have sponsored the resolution. Australia has one of the lowest yearly road death counts per 100,000 inhabitants however one road death is one too many. In May 2011, the Australian Transport Council unveiled its National Road Safety Strategy for the Decade. The strategy presents an ambitious plan to reduce the annual road death and injury toll of Australia by at least 30 per cent over the next 10 years.
Timothy Jones 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.
