This report is the latest in a series of annual road crash statistical reports. It presents annual counts of fatalities, fatal crashes and injuries, as well as rates. The focus is on the last ten years. Over the last decade total annual deaths decreased by 24.6 per cent. The estimated trend is a reduction of 3.7 per cent per year. Across jurisdictions the strongest downward trends were achieved in Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria (Table 1.1, p. 2). In 2015 the number of annual deaths per 100,000 population was 5.1. Over the last decade this rate declined by a total of 35.2 per cent, equating to an estimated trend reduction of 5.3 per cent per year (Table 2.1, p. 24). Analysis by age group shows that this rate decreased for all the age groups presented, but the largest reduction was for younger road users. For those aged 17-25 years, the rate per 100,000 population decreased over the decade by 54.4 per cent. However, this rate remains above the national average (Table 2.2, p. 26). A continuous series of population rates for annual hospitalised injuries is only available for the decade to 2011. During this time, annual hospitalised injuries per 100,000 population increased from 143.4 to 151.7. This is 30 times the rate for fatalities (Table 2.6, p. 29). Approximately one third of all fatal crashes occur in posted speed zones of 100km/hour. The distributions of fatal crashes in the four speed zone groups presented have not changed over the decade (Table 3.6 p. 38). In 2014, major cities accounted for 34.6 per cent of all fatal crashes (down from 39.7 per cent in 2008) (Table 3.8, p 40 and Figure 3.6, p. 41). Over the decade, total vehicle registrations increased by 25.4 per cent. During this time, passenger car registrations increased by 21.1 per cent and motorcycle registrations increased by 74.3 per cent (Table 5.9, p. 56). The tables in this report are based on two databases: the Australian Road Deaths Database (ARDD) and the National Crash Database (NCD). The Australian Road Deaths Database contains national road crash fatality data comprising basic demographic and crash information. Fatal crashes since 1989 are included and it is updated each month. The current data in spreadsheet format is available at <https://www.bitre.gov.au>. For this report, the May 2016 data was used. The scope of the National Crash Database is national fatal and injury crashes and at present it covers the years 2008 to 2014. It is updated annually. Due to the timing differences in data receipt and ongoing validation by data providers, there are minor data differences between the two databases. Non-fatal road traffic crash casualty data (referred to here as ‘hospitalised injury’) is collated from published reports by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and by the National Injury Surveillance Unit (NISU), as well as from unpublished National Hospital Morbidity Database reports compiled by NISU. Refer to AIHW 2008 for information regarding inclusion criteria for traffic crash hospitalised injuries. (Author/publisher)
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