Other states must follow NSW on publishing its most dangerous roads, following a 15-year peak in the crash toll, a lead motoring body says.
The NSW Government became the first jurisdiction in Australia to honour its promise to publish AusRAP ratings on its road network.
Publication of the data has been along running campaign of peak motoring body the Australian Automobile Association and it says the road toll, the worst until June 30 since 2020, shows the urgency.
The AAA Road Safety Strategy, signed up to by the states in 2021, wanted to halve fatalities by 2030 but with 1,329 people dead so far in the 12-month period, a 21.1 per cent increase since then and up 3.3 per cent on last year since, the AAA says it is not working.
Not working
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley says the other states must follow the NSW Government the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP).
“This national leadership is to be congratulated, and it will save lives by improving transparency, accountability, and by ensuring road investment dollars get spent where they are most needed,” Bradley says.
The data showed 71 per cent of NSW roads were rated three out of five stars under AusRAP’s road assessment scheme, which rates roads based on analysis of risk factors.
What the data investigates
Risk factors include average daily traffic; speed limit; number of lanes in each direction; lane width; shoulder width; presence or absence of roadside barriers and rumble strips; gradient and curvature; quality of line markings; skid resistance; whether the road is single or dual carriageway; and provisions for vulnerable road users.
“The Commonwealth has in recent months begun playing a constructive role, by linking its funding of state roads with the provision of road safety crash data, however it too needs to do more to publish and analyse the valuable information it is now collecting.”
Significantly the 192 pedestrian deaths in the year to 30 June was up 15 per cent from last year, while 38 cycling deaths were up 11.8 per cent