Spike in road deaths in Australia prompts calls for safety overhaul

Proposals include better enforcement of cellphone rules, rewarding good drivers

- Jonathan Pearlman

SYDNEY For decades, Australia was known for its world-leading road safety measures, including compulsory seat belts and random alcohol breath testing.

The nation's annual death toll on its roads fell from a record high of 3,798 in 1970 - the year in which the state of Victoria became the first jurisdiction in the world to make seat belts mandatory - to 1,094 in 2020. This marked a drop from 30 deaths per 100,000 people to 4.3.

But the road death toll has started to rise in the past three years. In the 12 months to the end of October, 1,247 people had died in road accidents, up 6 per cent since 2022 and 14 per cent since 2020.

The turnaround has led to calls for new measures to improve safety, including lower speed limits, better enforcement of mobile phone rules and fresh campaigns to ensure motorists wear seat belts.

There have also been calls to reward drivers who obey the rules with fuel discounts or tax deductions.

An expert on road safety, Monash University's adjunct professor Raphael Grzebieta, told The Straits Times that he believes the road death toll has risen because Australians are driving more since the end of Covid-19 lockdowns.

"A lot more people are travelling.