Australia’s road toll has climbed again, with the latest figures showing the country is moving further away from its target of halving fatalities by 2030.
In the 12 months to February 28, 2026, 1,336 people died on Australian roads, up 56 from the previous corresponding period. It was also the 33rd consecutive month that the rolling 12-month death toll increased. The last time the annual total was lower than the year before was in May 2023.
The figures add pressure on the National Road Safety Strategy 2021–30, which was adopted by federal, state and territory governments. Since it began in January 2021, fatalities have risen by 21.8%, even though the strategy aims to cut national road deaths by half by the end of the decade.
Some of the sharpest increases were recorded among road users outside cars, buses and trucks. Over the same 12-month period, deaths among vulnerable road users rose by 7.0% to 523.
That total included 202 pedestrians, 271 motorcyclists and 50 cyclists. Pedestrian deaths rose by 16.8% from the previous corresponding period, while cyclist deaths increased by 19.0%. Motorcyclist fatalities, by contrast, edged down by 1.1%.
The national increase was not spread evenly across the country. New South Wales recorded the biggest jump, with road deaths rising from 314 to 377, an increase of 63 fatalities or 20.1%. Queensland also posted a rise, with deaths increasing from 293 to 317.
Other jurisdictions recorded lower totals than a year earlier. Victoria fell from 293 to 275, South Australia dropped from 92 to 82, Western Australia edged down from 189 to 187, and the Northern Territory declined from 53 to 38. Tasmania rose from 36 to 45, while the ACT increased from 10 to 15.
On a population basis, the Northern Territory still recorded the highest fatality rate at 14.3 deaths per 100,000 residents despite its fall in total deaths.
The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) said the federal government should use its review of the National Road Safety Strategy to strengthen the Commonwealth’s role in transport safety.
“The Federal Government must use this review to correct this years-long surge in road trauma by enhancing the Commonwealth’s role in transport safety,” AAA managing director Michael Bradley said. He stated better data is needed to understand rising fatalities, with the AAA also calling for no-blame road crash investigations to help shape more effective safety measures.
“Reducing road trauma requires better roads, regulatory change and public education campaigns. All of these would be better targeted, more evidence-based, and more effective if informed by a national no-blame investigation approach.”
