Road safety of older people

308

road deaths

14.1% increase over the decade
51.6%

of deaths were drivers

increase from 49.3% in 2015
94

road deaths happened in inner regional areas

38.2% increase over the decade
6.6

road deaths per 100,000 people

13.7% decrease over the decade

Road deaths

Age

Over the 10 years to 2024, total annual road deaths increased by 85 (7.0% increase). In contrast, deaths for the 65+ age group (older people) increased by 38 (14.1% increase). There was an increase of 24 deaths for those aged 65-74 years (20.2% increase over the decade) and an increase of 14 deaths for those aged 75+ years (9.3% increase over the decade). Deaths in the 40-64 age group were highest of all age groups, with 403 deaths in 2024 (8.0% increase over the decade).

Annual road fatalities by age group, 2015-2024

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Table

Year	0 to 7	8 to 16	17 to 25	26 to 39	40 to 64	65 to 74	75 or older	Unknown	Total
2015	19	45	227	272	373	119	151	0	1,206
2016	24	36	265	290	411	103	165	0	1,294
2017	22	27	244	237	391	120	182	0	1,223
2018	15	38	226	258	351	114	129	4	1,135
2019	16	28	237	257	371	106	169	2	1,186
2020	17	38	208	291	331	75	133	4	1,097
2021	22	43	212	243	351	113	140	5	1,129
2022	15	50	227	267	366	116	140	1	1,182
2023	14	48	241	280	378	136	153	1	1,251
2024	19	43	240	276	403	143	165	2	1,291
Total change	0.0%	-4.4%	5.7%	1.5%	8.0%	20.2%	9.3%	-	7.0%

Source: Australian Road Deaths Database

Accounting for population, those aged 65-74 reported 5.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 2024 (4.8% decrease over the decade). The fatality rate for those aged 75+ years decreased by 22.0% over the period to 7.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 2024, sharing the highest fatality rate as the 17-25 age group. Most age groups reduced their fatality rate over the decade, ranging from a 1.6% to 22.0% reduction.

Annual fatality rate by age group, 2015-2024

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Table

Year	0 to 7	8 to 16	17 to 25	26 to 39	40 to 64	65 to 74	75 or older
2015	0.8	1.7	7.7	5.7	5.0	5.9	9.8
2016	1.0	1.4	9.0	6.0	5.4	4.9	10.4
2017	0.9	1.0	8.2	4.8	5.1	5.6	11.1
2018	0.6	1.4	7.5	5.1	4.6	5.1	7.7
2019	0.6	1.0	7.8	5.0	4.8	4.6	9.7
2020	0.7	1.3	7.0	5.5	4.2	3.2	7.3
2021	0.9	1.5	7.4	4.6	4.4	4.7	7.4
2022	0.6	1.7	7.9	5.0	4.6	4.7	7.1
2023	0.6	1.6	7.9	5.1	4.7	5.5	7.4
2024	0.8	1.4	7.6	4.9	4.9	5.6	7.6
Total change	1.1%	-17.7%	-2.0%	-14.3%	-1.6%	-4.8%	-22.0%

Source: Australian Road Deaths Database, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Road user group

Comparing fatalities by road user group, there were fewer deaths among older people. However, when deaths did occur, most of them were drivers (50.5% of older person deaths in the decade).

Among older people, motorcyclist deaths had the highest increase of 176.9% over the decade, followed by cyclists at an increase of 42.9%. These trends were reflected to a lesser degree in younger people aged less than 65 years, where motorcyclist deaths increased by 26.0%, followed by cyclists with an increase of 12.5%.

Annual road fatalities by road user and age group, 2015-2024

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Table

Year/Road User	Cyclist	Driver	Motorcyclist	Passenger	Pedestrian	Unknown	Total
2015	31	555	205	252	160	3	1,206
Under 65 years	24	422	192	203	93	2	936
65 years and older	7	133	13	49	67	1	270
2024	37	585	278	199	174	18	1,291
Under 65 years	27	426	242	157	113	16	981
65 years and older	10	159	36	40	61	2	308
Unknown	0	0	0	2	0	0	2

Source: Australian Road Deaths Database

States and territories

Most road deaths for older people happened in NSW, accounting for 24.4% of total road deaths in 2024. Over the decade, road deaths for older people in NT increased the most at 250.0% (from 2 to 7 deaths), followed by WA at 95.5% (from 22 to 43 deaths).

Annual road fatalities of older people by state or territory, 2015-2024

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Table

Year	ACT	NSW	NT	QLD	SA	TAS	VIC	WA	Total
2015	4	98	2	54	28	5	57	22	270
2016	1	93	4	53	25	7	63	22	268
2017	1	96	1	56	31	6	69	42	302
2018	0	90	5	45	21	6	55	21	243
2019	2	93	0	38	31	8	71	32	275
2020	1	60	3	49	21	6	43	25	208
2021	4	70	2	46	26	9	63	33	253
2022	1	84	6	54	14	13	55	29	256
2023	0	82	1	57	33	8	74	34	289
2024	2	75	7	69	34	7	71	43	308
Percentage change	-50.0%	-23.5%	250.0%	27.8%	21.4%	40.0%	24.6%	95.5%	14.1%

Source: Australian Road Deaths Database

Accounting for population from 2020, older people had the highest fatality rate in NT, at 28.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 2024 (95.3% increase).

Annual fatality rate of older people by state or territory, 2020-2024

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Table

Year	ACT	NSW	NT	QLD	SA	TAS	VIC	WA
2020	1.7	4.4	14.6	5.9	6.1	5.3	4.1	6.0
2021	6.6	5.0	9.3	5.3	7.4	7.8	5.9	7.6
2022	1.6	5.9	26.7	6.0	3.9	10.9	5.0	6.5
2023	0.0	5.6	4.3	6.2	8.9	6.5	6.6	7.3
2024	3.0	5.0	28.6	7.2	8.9	5.6	6.1	9.0
Total change	77.1%	13.3%	95.3%	22.2%	45.5%	4.2%	48.7%	48.3%

Source: Australian Road Deaths Database, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Remoteness area

Over the decade, road deaths for older people in Inner Regional Australia have risen by 26 (38.2% increase), accounting for 30.5% of deaths among this age group in 2024.
The increase in ‘Unknown’ is mainly due to WA only providing location data annually at the end of each year and missing data from NT. Updated location data for WA is expected to be available by the end of year.

Annual road fatalities of older people by remoteness area, 2015-2024

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Table

Year	Major Cities of Australia	Inner Regional Australia	Outer Regional Australia	Remote Australia	Very Remote Australia	Unknown	Total
2015	95	68	42	1	4	60	270
2016	96	66	38	4	6	58	268
2017	115	116	53	12	1	5	302
2018	104	72	53	8	6	0	243
2019	121	79	58	8	4	5	275
2020	76	78	44	6	4	0	208
2021	103	83	47	12	2	6	253
2022	103	79	51	10	11	2	256
2023	108	102	67	9	2	1	289
2024	97	94	59	8	5	45	308
Total change	2.1%	38.2%	40.5%	700.0%	25.0%	-25.0%	14.1%

Sex

Among those aged 65+ years, males have a higher fatality rate of 9.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2024, reporting a 6.4% decrease over the decade. At the same time, older females reported 4.0 deaths per 100,000 people. This is a 26.5% decrease in their fatality rate over the decade.

Annual road fatalities of older people by sex, 2015-2024

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Table

Annual road fatalities of older people by sex, 2015-2024

Year	Female	Male	Total
2015	103	167	270
2016	94	174	268
2017	107	195	302
2018	78	165	243
2019	93	182	275
2020	75	133	208
2021	86	167	253
2022	77	179	256
2023	93	196	289
2024	100	207	307
Total change	-2.9%	24.0%	13.7%

Annual road fatality rate of older people by sex, 2015-2024

Year	Female	Male	Total
2015	5.4	10.1	7.6
2016	4.8	10.1	7.3
2017	5.3	11.0	8.0
2018	3.8	9.0	6.2
2019	4.3	9.6	6.8
2020	3.4	6.8	5.0
2021	3.7	8.3	5.9
2022	3.3	8.6	5.8
2023	3.8	9.2	6.3
2024	4.0	9.4	6.6
Total change	-26.5%	-6.4%	-13.7%

Source: Australian Road Deaths Database

Hospitalisations

People aged 40-64 years had the highest number of hospitalised injuries from road crashes. In 2022 (latest data available), this age group reported 11,831 hospitalised injuries (7.6% decrease over the previous 6 years). However, once adjusted for population, the 17-25 age group reported the highest hospitalisation rate in the last 6 years. In 2022, the 17-25 age group reported 241.9 hospitalised injuries per 100,000 (14.0% decrease). The 65-74 and 75+ age groups had moderate hospitalisation rates, reporting 120.0 and 119.9 deaths per 100,000 people respectively.

Annual hospitalised injuries and injury rate (per 100,000 people) by age group, 2017-2022

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Table

Annual hospitalised injuries by age group, 2017-2022

Year	0 to 7	8 to 16	17 to 25	26 to 39	40 to 64	65 to 74	75 or older	Total
2017	735	2,478	8,393	9,419	12,807	2,748	2,375	38,955
2018	719	2,413	8,230	9,628	12,811	2,844	2,521	39,166
2019	696	2,489	8,011	9,528	13,039	3,036	2,651	39,450
2020	707	2,776	7,870	9,105	12,177	2,726	2,113	37,474
2021	696	2,834	7,911	9,303	12,874	2,953	2,387	38,958
2022	596	2,432	6,986	8,464	11,831	2,938	2,381	35,628
Total change	-18.9%	-1.9%	-16.8%	-10.1%	-7.6%	6.9%	0.3%	-8.5%

Annual injury rate (per 100,000 people) by age group, 2017-2022

Year	0 to 7	8 to 16	17 to 25	26 to 39	40 to 64	65 to 74	75 or older
2017	29.0	92.5	281.2	189.2	167.8	127.6	145.2
2018	28.4	88.4	273.0	189.3	166.5	127.7	150.0
2019	27.6	89.4	264.3	183.6	167.8	132.5	152.3
2020	28.2	97.7	264.6	173.0	154.6	114.8	116.5
2021	28.2	98.3	277.8	177.7	162.3	121.7	126.5
2022	24.1	83.1	241.9	160.1	147.7	120.0	119.9
Total change	-17.0%	-10.2%	-14.0%	-15.4%	-11.9%	-6.0%	-17.4%

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Definitions

Older person

Person aged 65 years and older, accounting for all nationalities.

Younger person

Person aged less than 65 years, accounting for all nationalities.

About the data

The following data sources were used:
Australian Road Deaths Database: Latest road deaths and fatal crashes data for the general population, from 2015 to 2024 as at August 2025
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): Population data up to 2024. Population data is retrieved from an ABS custom report where the remoteness area is reported using the closest Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) remoteness area available e.g. 2021 population uses 2021 remoteness area
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: Hospitalised Injuries from Road Crashes, from 2017 to 2022.

Limitations

Road deaths from recent months are preliminary and are subject to revision.

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Last updated: 3 Oct 2025

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