Curious as to how many of these would be unregulated and illegal electric motor vehicles (scooters, shithead ebikes, etc)
(I have an ebike. I quite like it. But when i see a cyclist flying over 60 up the 4% grade outside my house someone has fucked up)
…half way down the article it says it hasn’t increased per capita! It mostly puts much of the number increase due to a higher population. Bad article and the ABC should do better than this.
But previously deaths were decreasing per capita for decades, and they are still decreasing per capita in other countries.
Road deaths peaked in the 1970s, before steadily declining for 40 years as seatbelt and drink-driving laws were introduced.
But that changed in 2020, when the trend unexpectedly reversed.
Nations such as Spain have slashed fatality rates by reducing speed limits, criminalising some dangerous driving practices, increasing enforcement and investing in high-speed rail.
Australia has plummeted in international road safety rankings, according to Professor Teresa Senserrick, who heads the Centre for Road Safety Research at the University of Western Australia.
“Just over two decades ago we had reached the top 10 of the best-performing OECD countries, and it was a very exciting time, so it’s quite sad to look at the stats now and see we’ve only just scraped into the top 20 nations.”
In other words, the downward trend has changed for some reason, and other countries are doing things to reduce deaths that we, presumably, could also be doing. So I don’t think this is a ‘non-story’, as you seem to be implying.
Not decreasing not the same as increasing. Nor is “no longer being in the top 10” the same as “getting worse”. Other countries can improve theirs too and have caught up to our figures and improved further. We need to learn from them. But it is disingenuous to say we’re getting worse when, per capita, we have stayed the same. Total number has gone up because there are more people. That is all. The headline is clickbait.
Look I’m not saying do nothing, and it’s a wake up call that our figures aren’t getting better. It would be excellent if we had less cars on the road, way less drugged drivers and better results but we’re not increasing - we’re just not getting better either. Our figures per capita have plateaued. Simply put, more road building and lower speed won’t really solve that - road deaths tend to be higher on rural roads and we need to look more into that. Doing a blanket reduction in speed limits is not the answer (much like simply increasing the bank rate doesn’t stop inflation rising when you still have to buy food/pay bills and buy fuel and those companies are making record profits week on week). We need alternative forms of transport (reduce traffic), more separated bike lanes, and safer-built country roads. High speed rail within the states and between major cities would also help take lots of traffic off the road too.
Unfortunate day to bring up Spanish High Speed Rail 😞
I didn’t read the article I admit. However reading “unpopular policies may be needed” rings alarm bells. Read “more fines”.
Now, the fines for going just a couple of Ks over the limit are ridiculous. ( If all you have to say is “well just stay under the speed limit” or " the limit isn’t a target" of some other inane nonsense, feel free to keep that to yourself.
Fining people for speeding quite clearly isn’t working right ! So other measures are needed. Start policing the motorways, fine everybody that doesn’t indicate when changing lanes, that would be a start in reducing accidents. I see this every day, every day and it causes many near misses and of course accidents. It especially annoys me when I see trucks not indicating. Y’know, professional drivers whose job it is to drive. I mean I’ve seen cops do this too.
Education rather than more fines please.