Australia's road safety performance continues to deteriorate, with the nation's road toll rising for the 37th consecutive month and every state and territory now off-track to meet the National Road Safety Strategy's 2030 targets.
The latest Benchmarking the Performance of the National Road Safety Strategy report, released by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), shows 1,325 people died on Australian roads in the 12 months to 30 June 2026 – two more than the previous corresponding period and 20.8 per cent higher than when the strategy began at the end of 2020.
The National Road Safety Strategy aims to halve road deaths by 2030 compared with the 2018-2020 baseline. However, the latest figures place Australia 497 fatalities above the notional target for this stage of the strategy, with the AAA warning that 'business as usual' will not reverse the trend.
AAA managing director Michael Bradley said the strategy's mid-term review must focus on evidence-based decision-making rather than continuing existing approaches.
Australia's roads were becoming "more dangerous, not less", he said, arguing governments were still failing to properly measure the effectiveness of measures aimed at reducing speeding, drink and drug driving, fatigue and driver distraction. He also noted that although the strategy contains 23 performance indicators, only four can currently be tracked beyond 2024 because of inadequate national data.
The report found every jurisdiction remains in the report's 'red' category, indicating none is on track to achieve the strategy's headline road fatality target by 2030. Queensland recorded the largest increase among the major states, with road deaths rising 10.6 per cent to 323, while South Australia recorded a 27.4 per cent increase. Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory all recorded declines, but still remain well above their respective targets.
The report also found every major road user group – including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists – is off-track. Particularly concerning was a 35.9 per cent increase in cyclist deaths and a 40.9 per cent rise in fatalities involving children aged seven years and under.
The AAA is urging the Commonwealth to honour its commitment to data-driven road safety policy by collecting, publishing and analysing nationally consistent crash and intervention data. Bradley said only by understanding which safety measures work – and which do not – could governments implement effective policies capable of reversing Australia's worsening road toll.
The full report can be downloaded here.