Based on what you’re reading, the typical Australian is a smart, artificial intelligence-powered Toyota RAV4 with a penchant for road trips and a fascination with speed – unless it’s SUV sales.
The top rated news content on Daily Sparkz This included several articles about speed cameras – as the technology gets smarter to generate more fines – as well as a morbid fascination with the cars that only a handful of new car buyers park in their driveway.
What’s more, these stories emerged as the Australian automotive landscape received a series of new car brands, new models and old battlefronts, with each new car brand eager to grab your attention – and with that Daily Sparkz A team tries to filter out the propaganda from the promises.
Here are the five news articles you read most often in 2025.
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1. Highway to the danger zone
A summer road trip is a rite of passage for many Australians, but getting off the beaten track – beyond phone reception and away from petrol stations on a continent as vast as ours – can be fraught with danger.
In September, a study introduced the Danger Zone Index Score to rank the most dangerous, frequently traveled routes by proximity and provide assistance if something goes wrong.
Of the 100 roads named, the three most dangerous “breakdown hotspots” are – we won’t tell you – the roads in Australia that are furthest from fuel, a mechanic and medical attention.
“You never know what situation you might find yourself in,” said former SAS commander Ryan Wilson Daily Sparkz.
“When you head into remote or rugged areas of Australia, preparation is everything… you find yourself in a situation that requires calm, deliberate action.
“Mental preparation is important – plan your route, check road and weather conditions and let someone know where you are going and when you expect to arrive.”
Is Australia’s most dangerous breakdown hotspot part of your trip this summer?
2. You avoided these cars, but not this story about them
We love a winner: a cricketer hitting a six in the Boxing Day Test, a grueling rally at the Australian Open or a hard-fought finish from Sydney to Hobart. But we seem to love an awkwardly dropped catch or a broken bat even more.
Our article on the best-selling SUVs of 2024 was fittingly the first loser among our most-read news articles of the last 12 months, a fascination as poignant as our interest in true crime content Netflix and elsewhere.
Forget Tall Poppy Syndrome: These were the weeds of the new SUV sales charts that failed to flourish while rivals flourished – the hangers-on, the “could have been,” the “never was.”
Low sales doesn’t necessarily mean a bad vehicle, but a look at the list shows SUVs from some of the world’s most established suppliers, including some legendary names.
In 2025, the influx of brands means more choice for Australians, but a smaller share of the sales pie for each model, as shown by the best-selling model, which is expected to record around 40,000 sales.
This compares to around 66,000 for the best-seller two decades ago in 2005, the Holden Commodore, and almost 90,000 when the Ford Falcon became number one just a decade earlier in 1995.
3. New speed cameras see Tasmanian roads paved with gold
New speed cameras in Tasmania appear to have paid for themselves within days after speeding fines for motorists were increased 80-fold.
Older speed cameras on the Tasman Bridge in the state capital Hobart were switched off after 458 speeding drivers were caught between July 2021 and June 2022, an average of 8.8 per week.
The new, more advanced cameras that replaced them in March 2025 caught more than 700 speeding drivers in the first week of operation alone.
They are part of a new era of technology, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI), that has been rolled out in several states, including New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
The Sensys Gatso cameras on the Tasman Bridge, the site of the tragic collapse in January 1975, use AI to identify speeding drivers in each lane and can detect multiple speeding vehicles at once.
AI has also been used to detect mobile phone use and seatbelt violations, causing controversy in Queensland after motorists were incorrectly served with fines generated by AI technology.
4. Australia’s best-selling SUV has a problem
When you’re famous, you’re under intense scrutiny – even if you’re a modest SUV.
The Toyota RAV4 was part of a recall of almost 70,000 Toyota brand vehicles, which also affected the Corolla Cross, C-HR and Kluger SUVs as well as the Yaris, Corolla and Camry passenger cars.
In the biggest auto recall of the year, the larger 12.3-inch digital instrument display installed in some vehicles could go blank and stay that way.
The coma cluster meant drivers were not being shown vital information, including vehicle speed, warning lights and gauge status.
It was the only real blemish for the current RAV4, which will launch a new generation in the first half of 2026, including a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) version for the first time, sometime between August and October.
Australia’s best-selling SUV, the RAV4, topped the monthly sales charts in January, February and November 2025, in constant competition with the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger for overall victory.
5. Artificial intelligence is coming to your driver’s license
Australia’s road tolls continued to rise in 2025 after reaching their highest level in more than a decade in 2024, despite a record number of cameras and related revenues – including a tripling of revenues to $464.3 million in Queensland alone.
Trials of new “smart traffic enforcement cameras” began in Victoria in September 2025, expanding capabilities beyond old-fashioned speeding or red-light running detection.
A variety of new cameras can detect speed, red light violations, bus lane violations, seat belt faux pas and cell phone use. They also have license plate recognition and can determine average speed across multiple cameras.
The Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 commits to halving the number of road deaths by 2030 and eliminating road deaths on the state’s roads by 2050.
The state government’s website says: “Traffic safety cameras save Victorian lives. They slow drivers down and make Victoria’s roads safer.”
But according to the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), Victoria’s road toll rose from 278 to 280 for the year to December 15, 2025, after more fatalities involving pedestrians and vehicle occupants.
MORE: Privacy concerns over “unfair” fines for AI-powered cell phones and seatbelt cameras
