New analysis by Australia’s peak motoring body shows the ACT is the only state or territory set to meet its agreed 2020 road death reduction target.
The Australian Automobile Association’s (AAA) quarterly Benchmarking of The National Road Safety Strategy shows that for the first time all states and the Northern Territory are on track to miss targets signed up to by all governments in 2011.
In the year to June 2018, all states and the Northern Territory recorded “red light warnings”, meaning they are on a trajectory that makes them unlikely to meet the 2020 targets. There were 1,222 deaths on Australian roads in 2017-18 (only one fewer than 2016-17). Only two years out from the strategy’s target date, fatalities remain far higher than the rate needed to meet the strategy’s agreed goal.
AAA Chief Executive Michael Bradley said: “This is the worst result so far recorded by the AAA’s benchmarking process and underscores the need for greater federal road safety oversight to help reduce deaths on the nation’s roads.
“Critical elements such as data collection and research are not being coordinated or harmonised, and jurisdictions face no consequences for failing to deliver agreed outcomes.”
The full report is available for download on the AAA’s website.