Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past & Future Releases

Accident costs include loss of life or injury to persons, and the destruction of, and damage to, equipment and infrastructure. Transport-related deaths fell by 6% between 1997 and 2001. The majority of deaths (92% in 2001) were associated with road transport. Table 22.22 shows the number of transport-related deaths for each of the transport modes in the six years to 2002.

22.22 DEATHS(a) FROM TRANSPORT ACCIDENTS
Mode(b)	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Motor vehicles(c)	1,296	1,287	1,319	1,427	1,382	1,346
Pedestrians	388	369	373	359	352	308
Pedal cyclists	56	44	44	27	45	39
Rail	3	8	10	4	5	5
Water	50	39	57	51	49	49
Air	48	63	50	43	61	32
Other(d)	197	176	158	104	110	129
Total	2,038	1,986	2,011	2,015	2,004	1,908
(a) Based on the International Classification of Deaths, Edition 10 (ICD-10). Data in this table relate to year of registration of death and are based on death occurring up to one year following a transport accident. Data will therefore differ from the traffic fatalities shown in tables 22.23, 22.24 and 22.26 as data in those tables are based on year of occurrence of transport-related deaths which occur within 30 days of an incident. (b) Mode of transport of deceased persons. (c) Involving motor vehicles driven on public roads. (d) Includes riders of animals, agricultural equipment, all-terrain vehicles, industrial and construction vehicles, and unspecified transport accidents.
Source: State and territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Road traffic accidents

Accidents involving fatalities

The number of accidents involving fatalities in 2002 was 3% below the number in the previous year (table 22.23). This was despite increased numbers of such accidents in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia.

As well as fewer accidents involving fatalities, the number of deaths was also lower in 2002, but only declined by 1%. The number of persons killed from road traffic accidents in 2002 (1,723) was the lowest recorded since 1950.

22.23 ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS INVOLVING FATALITIES
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
ACCIDENTS INVOLVING FATALITIES
1994	552	345	364	143	195	52	36	15	1,702
1995	563	371	408	163	194	53	56	14	1,822
1996	538	382	338	162	220	53	58	17	1,768
1997	525	346	322	123	184	29	56	17	1,602
1998	491	348	257	152	199	47	59	20	1,573
1999	506	345	273	132	188	47	44	17	1,552
2000	543	373	275	151	184	38	48	16	1,628
2001	486	404	296	137	151	52	43	15	1,584
2002	510	361	283	138	159	34	40	8	1,533
PERSONS KILLED
1994	646	377	418	159	211	59	41	17	1,928
1995	620	418	456	181	209	57	61	15	2,017
1996	581	417	385	181	247	64	72	23	1,970
1997	576	377	361	148	197	32	60	17	1,768
1998	556	390	279	168	223	48	69	22	1,755
1999	577	383	314	151	217	53	49	19	1,763
2000	603	407	317	166	212	43	51	18	1,817
2001	524	444	324	153	165	61	50	16	1,737
2002	570	397	322	154	179	36	55	10	1,723
Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Monthly Fatalities Database.

Road traffic fatalities

The Australian average fatality rate from road traffic accidents per 100,000 persons fell marginally from 8.9 in 2001 to 8.8 in 2002, continuing the decline since 1970, when the rate was 30.4 accidents per 100,000 persons. Road traffic deaths per 100,000 persons in the Northern Territory in 2002 were significantly higher than the national rate, at 27.8 deaths per 100,000 persons (table 22.24). The Australian Capital Territory had the lowest rate of fatalities (3.1 per 100,000 persons) in 2002. Tasmania recorded the greatest drop in fatalities per 100,00 persons, from 12.9 in 2001 to 7.6 in 2002 (a fall of 41%).

22.24 ROAD TRAFFIC FATALITIES
	2001				2002
	no.	per 100,000 population(a)	per 10,000 motor vehicles registered(b)		no.	per 100,000 population(a)	per 10,000 motor vehicles registered(b)
New South Wales	524	7.9	1.4		570	8.6	1.5
Victoria	444	9.2	1.3		397	8.1	1.2
Queensland	324	8.9	1.4		322	8.7	1.3
South Australia	153	10.1	1.5		154	10.1	1.4
Western Australia	165	8.6	1.2		179	9.3	1.3
Tasmania	61	12.9	1.8		36	7.6	1.1
Northern Territory	50	25.0	4.9		55	27.8	5.3
Australian Capital Territory	16	5.0	0.8		10	3.1	0.5
Australia	1,737	8.9	1.4		1,723	8.8	1.3
(a) Estimated resident population at 30 June. (b) Number of registered motor vehicles and motor cycles (excl. tractors, caravans, plant and equipment) at 31 March.
Source: Australian Demographic Statistics, December Quarter 2002 (3101.0); Motor Vehicle Census, Australia, 31 March 2002 (9309.0); Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Monthly Fatalities Database.

International comparison of road traffic fatalities

Australian fatality rates are compared with those for other selected OECD nations in table 22.25. Australia's rate of 9.4 road traffic-related fatalities per 100,000 persons in 2000 is similar to the rates in Canada (9.5), Germany (9.1), Switzerland (8.3), and Japan (8.2). It is considerably below the rates in the Republic of (South) Korea (21.8), Poland (16.3), the United States of America (15.2), Spain (14.5), France (13.6) and New Zealand (12.1). Australia's rate is, however, markedly higher than Sweden (6.7) and the United Kingdom (6.0).

In relation to fatalities per number of registered vehicles in 2000, Australia (at 1.5) is on par with many other OECD countries. For the countries listed, the Republic of (South) Korea has the highest fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles (at 7.8 persons killed).

In relation to the number of fatalities per 100 million vehicle km travelled, Australia's fatality rate (1.0) is slightly higher than the rates in Canada and the United States of America (both 0.9), but below the rates for the other listed nations, and around one-quarter of the rate for the Republic of (South) Korea (3.9).

22.25 ROAD TRAFFIC FATALITIES, International comparisons - 2000
	Persons killed					Total population
Country	no.	per 100,000 of population	per 10,000 registered vehicles	per 100 million vehicle km travelled		millions
Australia	1,817	9.4	1.5	1.0		19.3
Canada	2,917	9.5	1.6	0.9		30.8
France	8,079	13.6	2.4	1.5		59.2
Germany	7,503	9.1	1.5	1.2		82.2
Japan	10,403	8.2	1.3	1.3		126.7
Korea, Republic of (South)	10,236	21.8	7.8	3.9		46.9
New Zealand	462	12.1	1.8	n.a.		3.8
Poland	6,294	16.3	4.5	n.a.		38.6
Spain	5,776	14.5	2.5	n.a.		39.7
Sweden	591	6.7	1.2	n.a.		8.9
Switzerland	592	8.3	1.3	1.1		7.2
United Kingdom	3,580	6.0	1.2	n.a.		59.8
United States of America	41,821	15.2	1.9	0.9		275.1
OECD median	-	11.0	1.9	1.3		-
Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Rail and water transport accidents

There were 49 deaths associated with water transport accidents in 2002, unchanged from the number of deaths in 2001. There were five rail transport accident-related deaths recorded in 2002, also unchanged from the number of deaths in the preceding year.

Air accidents

Accidents and fatalities

Since 1991, the number of aircraft accidents has declined by 49%, from 322 in 1991 to 164 in 2002 (table 22.26). In 2002 there were 34 fatalities, a fall of 33% compared with 2001, and considerably lower than the number of annual fatalities recorded during the early-1990s.

22.26 AIR TRANSPORT, Accidents and fatalities(a)
	Accidents	Fatalities
1991	322	54
1992	310	66
1993	318	67
1994	266	64
1995	267	51
1996	243	51
1997	254	38
1998	227	56
1999	196	49
2000	222	46
2001	201	51
2002	164	34
(a) Includes accidents in Australia and to Australian registered aircraft overseas. Excludes ballooning accidents.
Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau.