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
4.1 Australian Capital Territory
4.3 Netherlands
4.9 Iceland
5.0 Great Britain
5.0 Norway
5.1 Switzerland
5.2 Japan
5.2 Sweden
5.5 Israel
6.0 Germany
6.3 New South Wales
6.4 Northern Ireland
6.4 Victoria
7.2 Finland
7.4 Denmark
7.5 France
7.6 Australia
7.8 Ireland
7.8 South Australia
8.3 Austria
8.6 Queensland
8.6 Spain
8.7 Italy
9.0 Luxemburg
9.1 Tasmania
9.2 Portugal
10.0 New Zealand
10.1 Belgium
11.2 Western Australia
11.6 Slovakia
11.9 Czech Republic
12.2 Hungary
12.7 South Korea
13.6 USA
14.6 Slovenia
14.7 Poland
27.0 Northern 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/State 2008 2007
Great Britain 2,538 2,946
Australia 1,464 1,603
NSW 397 435
Qld 327 360
Vic 303 332
WA 209 235
SA 99 124
NT 75 58
Tas 40 45
ACT 14 14

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 :

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

Map of UK and Australia

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

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