New analysis shows Australia’s road toll has fallen in the year to June 2013, but governments must maintain a consistent effort to ensure it continues to decline says Australian Automobile Association (AAA).
“The reduction in road deaths is an encouraging development and hopefully it marks the start of a longer-term trend,” says Andrew McKellar, AAA executive director.
The latest ‘benchmarking the performance’ of the National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) shows 294 fatalities were recorded in the June 2013 quarter compared to 307 in the previous quarter – a decrease of 4.2%.“Although we welcome the improvement in these figures, there is a strong need to sustain this efforts if we are to meet our target of reducing deaths and serious injuries by 30% by 2020.”
In the 12 months to June 2013, there were 1274 road deaths recorded – a slight decrease of 0.4% compared to the same period in 2012. However, the trend line from data since the start of the NRSS in 2011 suggests there will be around 1150 fatalities in 2020 – some way off the target of 998.
“The hard truth is that on current progress we will not achieve our targets, meaning urgent, coordinated action and investment is required from all governments,” says McKellar.
“Our own analysis through the latest AusRAP report shows a targeted investment in roads of $4.7 billion would save 36,000 lives and serious injuries over 20 years.”
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