The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) is calling on the Australian government to overhaul its road safety strategy following the release of damning new national road pricing data.
The country’s peak motoring association, which represents Australia’s motoring clubs and their more than 10 million members, notes the national road toll has increased every year for the past five calendar years, which it says was last seen in 1952.
There were 22 more traffic deaths last year than in 2024, an increase of 1.7 percent. The number of traffic deaths per 100,000 inhabitants was 4.8, unchanged from the previous year.
The three most populous states all saw increases in road deaths, while Tasmania saw a shocking 41.9 per cent increase with 13 additional deaths and had the second highest death rate at 7.6 deaths per 100,000 people.
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While the Northern Territory’s toll fell by 36.7 per cent, it still had the highest rate of accidental deaths per 100,000 people at 14.4.
The AAA says the current National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 – which aims to halve the country’s road fatalities by 2030 and reduce the number of serious injuries by 30 per cent – is “failing” and is calling on the Australian government to implement key changes.
“The AAA is calling on the Commonwealth to expand its authority to conduct no-fault investigations of road fatalities beyond aviation, rail and maritime accidents, and to also examine the factors driving up our road tolls,” AAA Executive Director Michael Bradley said in a press release today.
“The starting point for tackling the ever-worsening road tolls is to understand what is causing them to rise in the first place.
“Reducing road trauma requires new road funding, regulatory changes and public education campaigns – all of which will be more targeted, evidence-based and effective when based on the work of a national investigative agency.”
Here’s a breakdown of last year’s traffic fatalities by jurisdiction:
| Responsibility | Traffic fatalities in 2024 | Traffic deaths in 2025 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 327 | 355 | +8.6% |
| VIC | 284 | 290 | +2.1% |
| QLD | 302 | 308 | +2.0% |
| To | 89 | 87 | -2.2% |
| WA | 188 | 183 | -2.7% |
| THE | 31 | 44 | +41.9% |
| NT | 60 | 38 | -36.7% |
| ACT | 11 | 9 | -18.2% |
| IN TOTAL | 1292 | 1314 | +1.7% |
While motorcyclist deaths fell 4.3 percent nationally from 2024, pedestrian deaths rose 13.2 percent (and a whopping 54.5 percent in South Australia alone), while cyclist deaths increased 32.4 percent (including a staggering 200 percent increase in NSW).
The AAA has consistently advocated for the Australian Government to make important changes to its road safety strategy, and scored a decisive victory in 2024 when the government included a provision in its five-year interstate road funding agreement requiring states to produce more road safety data.
This led to state governments in Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) releasing road safety assessments in September 2025, which were made visible on the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) dashboard.
MORE: ‘Secret’ safety ratings released revealing some of Australia’s most dangerous roads
