Death-defying designs for car safety

Box 1 | Declining road toll

Motor vehicles have always been a killer. In 1925, for example, they claimed 700 lives in Australia. Since then, more than 160,000 Australians have died on the road, more than the total number of Australians who died in the two world wars and the Vietnam war combined. The fatality head-count peaked in 1970 with an horrific 3798 deaths. Adding to the tragedy is the youthfulness of the dead: for example, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1359 people aged 15-24 died in motor vehicle accidents in 1995.

But in the last few decades something rather strange has been happening. Although the number of vehicles on Australian roads has continued to rise, road deaths have declined dramatically. In 2007, for example, 1616 people died, less than half the number in 1970, despite there being more than double the number of vehicles on the road. A few more numbers will reinforce the point:

  • the number of fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles was 1.09 in 2007, 14 per cent of the 1970 ratio of 7.96;

  • the number of fatalities per 100,000 people in the population was 7.7 in 2008, one quarter of the 1970 figure of 30.4.

Related sites
Road deaths Australia: 2007 statistical summary (Australian Transport Safety Bureau)
The history of road fatalities in Australia (Australian Transport Safety Bureau)
Trends in road fatalities (Australian Transport Safety Bureau)
Selected road crash death rates 1950 to 2000 (Australian Transport Safety Bureau)

External sites are not endorsed by the Australian Academy of Science.
Page updated August 2008.