The worst road death toll since 2012 has more than 100 senior academics lining up to call for changes to speed laws.
While repairers ready themselves for ever evolving crash-prevention technology in cars, it has not prevented the nationwide toll surging in July to more than 31 per cent above the monthly average.
The Department of Infrastructure statistics for July show 124 people died in July alone, bringing the 12-month total to 1327 deaths, itself 10 per cent higher than average.
It coincides with an almost year-long campaign by the AAA to push the states into better data sharing around these crashes to make preventative measures more effective.
The federal government funded a $20million safety data hub in may and has tied federal; road funding too this sharing agreement but not all the states are signatories.
Speed is the key
But in August the academics in transport, engineering, urban design, safety and public health signed the missive calling for speed to be the key focus in preventative measures, specifically to look at a wider adoption of 30km/h limits on local roads.
It cites a model from Bristol in the UK that experienced a 63 per cent reduction in fatalities following the introduction of a 20mph (32km/h) city-wide speed.
Some Victorian inner-city councils are trialling 30km/h speed limits on local roads but some police have dismissed the push, arguing the deaths are more frequently occurring on regional and rural roads.
The submission from the academics also argues this speed reduction will reduce the cost on the health system by $3.5billion per year.
“Despite these well-known benefits, Australia maintains the third highest default speed limit in the OECD, well above the OECD and World Health Organisation recommendation of 30km/h wherever cars and vulnerable road users interact,” the letter states.
Unpopular but effective
It argues structural speed calming measures such as speed humps are not as effective as a default posted limit, education and enforcement.
“The barriers to slowed local streets in Australian cities are therefore not structural or even fiscal. Instead, they lay in political hesitancy.”
READ MORE: Lower speeds on local streets cut deaths and injuries by a quarter
The urgency of the epidemic of road trauma in Australia demands a more proactive and timely response, and political leaders are at the helm of change. The evidence is unequivocal that Australian lives are in (their) hands.”
The full list of academics is available here.