Road Death Comparison

The number of road deaths in some parts of Australia are rated as some of the worst in the developed world, however, other parts are considered to be the lowest in any of these countries.

There are different measurements of these fatalities, and must be viewed in relation to your own opinions.

  • Road deaths per 100,000 people
  • Road deaths per 100,000 kilometres travelled

The second of these figures shows a clearer picture of relevance compared to actual use of the road, rather than the numbers of people in a country, who may or may not actually use the roads.  There are more cars on the road in Australia, per head of population, than in the UK, and consequently a higher mileage is covered, and a higher death toll.

The following figures showing the number of Road Fatalities per 100,000 population of each country listed, with separate figures for each State of Australia.

Road deaths per 100,000 people
2007 Country
4.1Australian Capital Territory
4.3Netherlands
4.9Iceland
5.0Great Britain
5.0Norway
5.1Switzerland
5.2Japan
5.2Sweden
5.5Israel
6.0Germany
6.3New South Wales
6.4Northern Ireland
6.4Victoria
7.2Finland
7.4Denmark
7.5France
7.6Australia
7.8Ireland
7.8South Australia
8.3Austria
8.6Queensland
8.6Spain
8.7Italy
9.0Luxemburg
9.1Tasmania
9.2Portugal
10.0New Zealand
10.1Belgium
11.2Western Australia
11.6Slovakia
11.9Czech Republic
12.2Hungary
12.7South Korea
13.6USA
14.6Slovenia
14.7Poland
27.0Northern Territory

It can be seen that an Australian State is at both the Top of the list and the Bottom.  The Northern Territory has an abysmal record in this respect, with 27 road deaths per 100,000 population.  However, the Australian Capital Territory, which is mainly Canberra, has an enviable record of only 4.1 road deaths per 100,000 population.

The actual number of Deaths on each Countries roads are shown below, for Great Britain and each Australian State.

Country/State20082007
Great Britain2,5382,946
Australia1,4641,603
NSW397435
Qld327360
Vic303332
WA209235
SA99124
NT7558
Tas4045
ACT1414

The 2007 raw data was sourced from: International Road Safety Comparisons: The 2007 Report PDF file

An idea of the similar, road deaths per 100,000 population rates, in the UK Counties, taking the Five extremes from each end of the spectrum :

2008Area
27.84City of London
12.94Cleveland
12.37Northumbria
10.86Cambridgeshire
10.66Leicestershire
3.23Merseyside
3.19Hertfordshire
2.46Gtr. Manchester
2.31West Midlands
1.58London Metropolitan

Map of UK and Australia

Data Files:
Fatal Accident rates in Australia 1984-2008.xls

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