WA road deaths: Equal road toll in city and country is very unusual, say road safety bosses

Deaths on WA’s regional roads have fallen to their lowest levels in a decade, drawing equal with fatalities on Perth roads this year, in a trend authorities have called “unusual”. It comes amid revelations a big portion of WA drivers think driving tired is OK. Over the past 10 years, the road toll on regional roads has eclipsed the figure in Perth, with the number of people dying in crashes in the country this time last year almost double those in Perth, 105 deaths to 58. But with a fortnight to go in 2023, 74 people have died on country roads and 71 in the city — statistics Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner acknowledged were “very unusual”. “Regional road deaths have outnumbered metropolitan deaths for the past decade,” he said. “We have to go back to 2013 when there were 67 regional fatalities compared to 81 metropolitan fatalities for similar numbers.” In total, 2023 is tracking to have lowest number of road deaths in more than a decade, with 145 so far, compared to 163 at this time in 2022. Mr Warner said while the reduction of deaths on regional roads was welcome, it was too early to say that it was a “sustained trend”. “We hope that regional communities are getting the message that it is mostly regional people dying on high-speed regional roads (in their own or neighbouring district) and people are taking more care driving on what are familiar but higher risk roads,” he said. “The State Government has also invested heavily in improving regional roads and there is good evidence to show that the addition of wider bitumen and rumble strips on a regional road can cut the risk of a crash.” Mr Warner said speed was the biggest factor in fatal crashes on regional roads — most often occurring on 110km/h stretches, while in the city serious crashes were more commonly on roads with a 60km/h speed limit. And with families busy packing up their cars to set off for the festive season and school holidays, Mr Warner emphasised the importance of staying safe on the roads. “The best you can give is to arrive safely,” he said. “This means driving to the conditions - whatever the speed limit, if it is raining, if visibility if poor, or the road is in bad shape - slow down.” The warning comes as new a RAC surey found one in four WA drivers believe it’s acceptable to drive while tired. The same survey carried out last year found just 16 per cent thought that was acceptable, and 20 per cent thought it was OK in 2021. The results, based on responses received from about 500 WA drivers, has prompted a renewed safety message from the RAC ahead of the holiday season. RAC general manager of external relations Will Golsby said fatigue was a “silent killer” on WA roads. “It slows down your reaction time and reduces your alertness,” Mr Golsby said. “The start of school holidays can be stressful and exhausting, especially after a long year, but when you combine fatigue and driving, the results can be catastrophic. “Nothing is more important than making sure you and your family arrive safely.” Fatigue is considered a factor in a substantial number of crashes across the country every year. Latest figures show 196 people were killed or seriously injured in a fatigue related crash in WA last year. In 2021, 211 people died or were seriously hurt in a fatigue related collision. December is typically one of the worst months of the year on WA roads. Last year, 167 people were killed or seriously injured in the month of December in crashes, more than any other month.