Road toll (Australia and New Zealand)

Road toll is the term used in some countries, specifically New Zealand and Australia for the number of deaths caused annually by road accidents.

New Zealand reports an annual nationwide road toll, plus special period figures for a number of holiday periods:

The road toll includes deaths which occur within 7 days of a road accident as a result of injuries received in the accident. Deaths of pedestrians and cyclists are included, but deaths from vehicular accidents not on legal roads (e.g. on farms) are excluded.

The New Zealand road toll has exhibited a downward trend since the late 1980s through to 2010, which was attributed to a number of factors:

In Australia the road toll is reported at a state level. Similar to New Zealand, Australia also reports national figures for special holidays, though usually only for the Christmas and Easter holiday periods.

In 2010, 1367 people lost their lives in road traffic crashes in Australia. While strategies to reduce road toll, including legislation, improvements to vehicle’s which help to make them safer, and educational programs have been developed by the national government, under the 1992 Road Safety Strategy, it is up to the local governments to adopt and enforce these policies. The state of Victoria has implemented several initiatives such as speed camera, random alcohol breath tests, and an integrated state trauma system, which have successfully reduced the number of deaths caused by road traffic crashes.

Random breath testing (“RBT”), utilized throughout Australia, differs from the sobriety check-points commonly used in other countries. In Australia, random breath testing is accomplished by setting up a highly visible road block, wherein all drivers passing through are asked to take an alcohol breath test, regardless of whether there is any cause to believe the driver has been drinking. RBT was shown to reduce alcohol related road toll by 8–71% in fourteen different studied reviewed by Dr. Corinne Peek-Asa. Requiring bicyclists to wear helmets and motorists and passengers to wear seat belts has also proven to reduce road toll in Australia.

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