Australia’s road toll has risen for the 32nd consecutive month, with 1,313 people killed in the 12 months to 31 January 2026. This represents a 0.7 per cent increase from the previous corresponding period.
The latest figures mark the longest continuous stretch of year-on-year increases since the start of the current decade and underscore mounting pressure on governments to reverse the trend.
“The last time the 12-month road deaths total was lower than in the previous corresponding period was May 2023,” Australian Automobile Association (AAA) managing director Michael Bradley said.
“Since the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 began in January 2021, crash fatalities have risen by 19.7 per cent.”
Strategy falling short of targets
All governments are committed to the National Road Safety Strategy 2021–30, which aims to halve road deaths by the end of the decade. Five years into the strategy, fatalities continue to trend upward, and three of its five headline targets remain unmeasurable.
The AAA said the Federal Government, which is reviewing the strategy, must take stronger action.
“The Federal Government must use this review to correct this years-long surge in road trauma by enhancing the Commonwealth’s role in transport safety,” Mr Bradley said.
State-by-state increases
New South Wales recorded one of the sharpest increases, with fatalities rising 17.3 per cent to 367. Tasmania’s toll climbed 36.4 per cent to 45 deaths. Western Australia rose 2.2 per cent to 188, and the ACT increased 20 per cent to 12.
Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory recorded declines. The Northern Territory’s total fell 42.6 per cent to 35 deaths, although it continued to record the highest fatality rate per 100,000 residents at 13.2.
Nationally, the fatality rate remained unchanged at 4.8 per 100,000 people.
Vulnerable road users under pressure
Deaths among vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists, rose 2.2 per cent to 517 fatalities over the year.
Pedestrian deaths increased 13.7 per cent and cyclist deaths rose 16.7 per cent, while motorcyclist fatalities declined 6.9 per cent.
“There is plenty of speculation about why road deaths are rising nationally and why they are worse in some states than others. But we need more than guesswork to curb this growing crisis,” Mr Bradley said.
“The starting point to addressing our worsening road toll is gathering hard facts that help us understand what’s causing it to rise in the first place.”
Push for no-blame crash investigations
The AAA is calling on the Commonwealth to extend its no-blame transport investigation powers, which is currently applied to aviation, rail, and maritime incidents, to road fatalities.
“The AAA is calling on the Commonwealth to extend its powers to conduct no-blame investigations of transport fatalities beyond aviation, rail, and maritime incidents,” Mr Bradley said.
He suggested a targeted pilot program could focus on areas of greatest concern, including heavy vehicle crashes, pedestrian deaths or incidents involving e-mobility devices.
“Reducing road trauma requires better roads, regulatory change and public education campaigns. All of these would be better targeted, more evidence-based, and more effective if informed by a national no-blame investigation approach,” he said.
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