4 Jan 2023

Holiday road toll at a five-year high

From Morning Report, 8:28 am on 4 January 2023

More people died over the Christmas and New Year holiday period this year than any other since 2017. 

As of this morning, at least 19 people have died on the roads over the past fortnight.

The provisional tally of road deaths in 2022 was 378, on a par with 2018, when 378 people died.

Since then the government has introduced a new road safety strategy, Road To Zero, which is meant to see incremental reductions in road deaths, leading to a 40 percent reduction in death and serious injuries by 2030.

Police assistant commissioner, Bruce O'Brien, spoke to Morning Report.