Australia’s road toll hits seven-year high

2023 was the most lethal year on Australian roads since 2016, with 1266 fatalities recorded across the country, representing a 7.3 per cent increase on 2022 when road deaths spiked as COVID restrictions eased.

According to data published by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, New South Wales (351) and Victoria (294) chalked up the most fatalities, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given they’re the nation’s two most densely populated states.

What was a surprise was the more than 64 per cent jump in fatalities recorded last year in South Australia, where 117 people lost their lives on the road in 2023 compared to 71 in the previous calendar year.

At the other end of the scale, the ACT saw a 77.8 per cent reduction in the number of road-related deaths (18 down to four).

Tasmania, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland also recorded lower road tolls, leaving NSW, Victoria and South Australia as the outliers.

The data also sorted the annual tally into age groups, with road users aged 40-65 the most frequently killed (387) on Aussie roads, followed by the 26-39 age group (281) and 17-25-year-olds (244).

Predictably, car drivers were most the commonly killed road users, accounting for nearly 49 per cent of all deaths in 2023, followed by motorcyclists (20%) and car passengers (16%).

2023 road toll by state/territory:
NSW – 351
VIC – 294
QLD – 277
SA – 117
WA – 158
TAS – 34
NT – 31
ACT – 4
Total: 1266

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