National Road Safety Strategy mid-term report
October 2026
The National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 aims to halve the number of road deaths between 2021 and 2030, but that target is looking further and further away.
The Government has released the mid-term review of the Strategy. Deaths have actually increased by 7%. Even when allowing for population growth, the road toll has not improved at all, with the number of deaths per 100,000 people increasing slightly from 4.5 to 4.6.
More positively, the number of hospitalisations has dropped by 4%, with 144.2 hospitalised injuries per 100,000 population, compared to 153.6 previously.
Notable changes in road deaths across the review period include:
- Motorcyclist fatalities (almost all men) have increased by 30%.
- Light commercial vehicle fatalities increased 12.3%.
- There has been a shift in fatalities by age group, with 17-25 year olds replacing people over 75 as the group at highest risk.
- Male fatalities are almost three times higher than females.
The report provides an interesting comparison between Australia’s road safety performance and a select group of other countries. Our rate of 4.8 fatalities per 100,000 population in 2024 is similar to Canada (4.9) and France (4.7). However, it is around twice as high as countries like Japan and the UK.
Amongst other things, the report notes that drink driving enforcement has declined, from 14.9 million random breath tests annually (2010-2019) to 10.7 million since 2022. However, random drug tests have increased from 268,000 per annum to 480,000.
The report argues the death toll would have been worse without various investments in road safety. The launch of the National Road Safety Data Hub in 2024 is rightly considered as a good step forward.
In November 2025 TPA made an extensive submission to the mid-term review, identifying a range of causes for the stubbornly high road toll, including:
- Cars, SUVs and utes are getting larger and heavier, which increases the energy involved in a crash.
- High-speed undivided rural roads still operate at 100km/h or above without median separation or wider centreline treatments.
- Vulnerable road users are exposed on urban arterials, particularly around schools and town centres.
"For years, public statements have celebrated reduced rates per capita or per vehicle, while ignoring that absolute numbers of deaths remained high and that progress was flattening from around 2014 onwards. This has contributed to a sense that the situation was under control when, in reality, we were drifting off track from our targets."
The TPA submission suggests a range of changes, including:
- Better capture of 'minor' crashes and near misses in road safety data.
- Greater uptake of safer vehicle technology.
- Dynamic speed management, adapting speed limits to road and traffic conditions.
- Safer speed limits, such as 40 km/h on urban local streets.
- Relatively low-cost infrastructure treatments such as compact rural roundabouts and raised pedestrian crossings.
The mid-term review report doesn't provide a substantial response to submissions or get into detailed recommendations. It signals this will come in a subsequent action plan. But it does suggest a change in the structure and themes of the strategy, which would appear to elevate the importance of post-crash care and acknowledge that mode shift is a significant factor. It also encourages improvements in data collection and makes a pitch for the Commonwealth to take a stronger leadership role.
The report hints that there is “an opportunity for the Australian Government to directly influence and prioritise vehicle safety enhancements” and that “the Safe Speed theme could have more prominence.”
Responding to the review of the “failing road safety strategy,” the Australian Automobile Association said it shows that “all governments must lift their game, because if we continue doing the same things, we should not expect different results.”
The Australasian College of Road Safety also expressed concern, saying “Australia does not need another cycle in which activity is mistaken for improved safety.”
A move away from business as usual, to more substantive actions, will be needed if Australia is to come close to achieving the objectives of the Road Safety Strategy.