Car accidents survey & statistics 2021

To determine the car accident rates of each state, the total road fatalities were measured for every 100,000 registered vehicles in that state^[7][8]. The general trend across Australia from 2016 to 2020 was that crash rates per vehicle on the roads decreased by 21%. However, Queensland and South Australia saw minor uplifts in this rate, meaning that road fatalities grew at a greater rate than the number of vehicles registered.

In 2020, the Australian Capital Territory has the fewest fatalities for the number of vehicles registered, at roughly 2 per 100,000 vehicles on the roads. The Northern Territory had the highest rate, with nearly 20 fatalities per 100,000 vehicles.

Data from BITRE shows the five local regions (SA4s) with the highest numbers of road fatalities^[7]. Wide Bay (a region around Bundaberg and Gympie in Queensland^[9]) had 45 road fatalities in one year – averaging nearly one a week. However, it’s also worth remembering these regions will vary in size, and these figures don’t represent your overall safety driving in any area.

Of the top 11 SA4s for car accidents in 2020, 5 were in Queensland. Western Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory did not feature in the top 10.

In developing these groupings, those that drive “rarely” (or later in this survey, appear as having a “low” rate of congested driving) were those that drive once a week or less in congested conditions. The “sometimes” bracket (or “medium” rate) are those that drive 2-3 times in congested conditions every week. Finally, the “often” range (and those that have a “high” congested driving rate) are those that drive 5 or more times in congested traffic every week.

Western Australian respondents seemed to have the highest rate of driving in congested conditions of any state or territory in Australia. On the other hand, Tasmanians and New South Wales-based participants had the lowest rates of suggesting they often drive through congestion.

Around 64% of Australian respondents indicated they had been involved in at least 1 car accident before. However, this rate rose to around 69% in Victoria, and over 71% in Tasmania.

As could be expected, around 21% drivers with a high rate of driving in congested conditions have been in 3 or more crashes. This is significantly higher than the 14% of those with a “low” rate of congested driving, and 19% of those with a “medium” rate of congested driving. In essence – the more travel a person does in congested conditions, the more likely they are to have been involved in a high number of car accidents.

Male respondents also have a higher rate of having been in an accident before (65%) than women (62%).

*Only respondents who had indicated they had been involved in car accidents before were given this prompt. Respondents could also select multiple options, meaning answers may not add up to 100%.

Over half of all drivers who have been involved in accidents have experienced a nose-to-tail collision. Queensland had the highest rate of drivers having collisions with animals, with over 14% of drivers who have experienced a crash having encountered an animal on the roads.

For every 3 respondents that were most worried about car accidents, there was 1 that was most worried about dying of side-effects from a vaccine (making the Australian ratio 3:1). Females were less likely than men to be worried about vaccines, with a 4:1 ratio of fearing car accidents to vaccines.

By asking all Australian respondents to order each cause of car accidents from most to least likely, the list above represents the average placements of each cause. Speeding was voted the most likely cause of car accidents, followed by distracted driving, aggressive driving, drink driving, fatigued driving, and several other driving behaviours. Interestingly, Australians do feel that the fault lies with the driver (not the roads), voting poorly designed roads / intersections the least likely cause of crashes.

These results closely match trends across Australia, which show that speeding has been the greatest cause of road fatalities. However, drink driving and fatigued driving are often the two most common causes^[2], which our respondents didn’t consider to be as risky as distracted driving, or aggressive driving.

Interestingly, the average Australian result showed that country/rural roads were voted as feeling the least safe roads to drive on. 41% of respondents voted for “Motorways/freeways” as their safest roads, and another 16% felt it was their second-safest road option.

This might seem obvious, but road laws are only there to help keep drivers safe. Things like speed limits, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits, road signs – they all help ensure drivers have the best chances possible to avoid accidents.

Aggressive driving only increases your chances of being involved in an accident. Tailgating, gestures, and risky acceleration all create scenarios where your reaction times are limited, and your chances of avoiding a crash are reduced.

Fatigued driving is an obvious contributor to road accidents across Australia. If you feel yourself getting tired on the road, it’s never worth pressing on. Finding somewhere to stop and recharge will always be the smartest way to avoid an accident.