One hundred people hospitalised each day from road trauma

New data released by the Productivity Commission shows there were more than 37,000 people hospitalised across Australia as a result of traffic accidents in the 2015-16 financial year.

Sydney trauma surgeon Dr John Crozier says this equates to around 100 people receiving hospital care each day as a result of road accidents while other Australians languish on elective surgery waiting lists.

"This year to date there have been 766 fatalities on our roads - that's an average of nearly 100 people every month.

"For each one admitted at least seven others are managed in hospitals each day, for periods less than 24 hours. These are not just statistics, they're people with lives and loved ones and it is an unacceptable tragedy which we must respond to with a commensurate scale and stimulus," Dr Crozier said.

 Dr Crozier co-chaired the Australian Government's independent inquiry into road safety, which provided its report to the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on 12 September at Parliament in Canberra.

He said he wants senior infrastructure officials and ministers who are meeting in the coming weeks to consider the recommendations of the inquiry, and whether a death toll of 766 is acceptable.

"We have seen a decade of lost opportunities to halt the silent epidemic of serious injury on Australian roads, as governments selectively implement proven solutions," Dr Crozier said.

"As the Deputy Prime Minister tweeted this week, most drivers support rules and enforcement to address risks to road safety, such as random breath testing, driver drug testing, 40km/h speed limits in high pedestrian areas, and point to point speed enforcement.

"It's time for governments to take serious action on road safety."

View the full Inquiry report (PDF 2.04MB) and factsheet (PDF 1.07MB), and watch a short video from the launch.

Source: Report on Government Services 2018, Part C Chapter 6, Productivity Commission

Source: Australian Road Deaths Database (Data current to August 2018)