Road safety rethink urged as deaths in 50km zones surge
Governments are being called on to strengthen road safety measures as the number of deaths on local streets rises significantly.
An urgent review and more federal and state support for councils is needed as the country moves away from meeting a significant road toll target, Roads Australia says, echoing calls from road safety advocates.
After years of steady declines, transport ministers in 2021 set a target of reducing annual road deaths by 50 per cent by 2030.
Instead, deaths on the roads have risen, rising by 15 per cent above ministers’ 2020 baseline.
More than 155 road deaths have been recorded in the first seven weeks of 2026; This rate will once again eclipse the baseline.
In a report published on Wednesday, Roads Australia highlighted fatalities on roads with a 50km/h speed limit, which have increased significantly in recent years.
More than 150 people were killed in these regions in 2025; This figure is almost 20 percent higher than the previous year.
Vulnerable road users were disproportionately affected; In 2025, pedestrian deaths increased by 13 percent annually and cyclist deaths increased by 32 percent.
The group, whose members include major road infrastructure players such as Downer, John Holland and Transurban, said the report showed there was a need to rethink how urban streets are designed and managed.
This included reducing the limits of some areas to 40 or 30 km/h.
“These deaths are not just statistics. These are parents, friends and children unable to return home after a routine trip to the shops, school or work,” Roads Australia CEO Ehssan Veiszadeh said in a statement. he said.
“Lower speeds significantly increase a person’s chances of survival and make the streets safer by allowing drivers to stop and avoid a crash altogether.
“If we are serious about meeting our 2030 road safety targets, we must prioritize safer speeds and make our streets safer for everyone.”
It comes after the Australasian College of Road Safety blamed a failure of leadership for the rising road toll.
The sustained rise represents an unprecedented reversal in national progress since the 1930s, the research and advocacy group said in January.
“(This) highlights a systematic breakdown in accountability at a time when coordinated government action is critical to prevent people from being killed or seriously injured on our roads,” the center said.
