Road crash injuries are on the rise in Australia—how can we stop them?

Hospitalization rates for road crashes have steadily increased over the past 10 years, with men, regional communities and pedestrians bearing the brunt.

Led by Dr. Ali Soltani from Flinders University, new research has analyzed who is getting injured in road accidents and their recovery time, highlighting what strategies are needed to improve road safety across Australia.

“Despite the introduction of Australia’s first National Road Safety Strategy in 1992, road crashes continue to be a major issue, with four fatalities and 90 serious injuries estimated to occur every day,” says Dr. Soltani, from Flinders’ College of Science and Engineering.

“A lot of money and effort is put into trying to reduce Australia’s road toll but enhancing road safety requires being able to predict the frequency and severity of crashes.”

In an article published in the journal Case Studies on Transport Policy, Dr. Soltani and his team combined injury and fatality data with advanced machine learning techniques to model crash severity and recovery outcomes—the first study of its kind to do so.

Using data from the Australian Government’s Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics, the study analyzed over 10 years of hospital admission records (2011–2021) and 35 years of fatality records.

“We found between 2011 and 2019, crash-related hospitalizations rose steadily, only falling briefly during 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdowns,” says Dr. Soltani.

“Hospital admissions from road crashes have not only increased, but we also found the injuries themselves are getting more severe in some groups.

“This is a serious concern, especially considering our national targets to reduce serious injuries by 30% by 2030.”

The study found:

• Men account for nearly two-thirds of all hospitalizations (64.8%) and also require longer hospital stays than women, indicating more severe injuries.
• Older Australians suffer the longest recovery times, with people aged over 75 spending an average of 9.3 days in hospital per crash case—nearly twice as long as younger adults.
• Pedestrians were identified as the most severely injured group, with one-third requiring hospital stays of six days or more, along with motorcyclists and pedal cyclists.
• While urban areas had more accidents, regional crash victims experienced more severe injuries and spend longer in hospital than their urban counterparts, likely due to speed and infrastructure.

The authors say the findings suggest the current one-size-fits-all road safety strategies are failing to adequately protect the most vulnerable.

“This is about more than just numbers. This analysis is able to highlight who is getting hurt the most and why—giving policymakers a clearer picture of where to intervene,” says Dr. Soltani.

“Along with increased enforcement of speeding and drink-driving laws, we need age and gender-specific interventions.

“This should include improved road design for older pedestrians, such as longer traffic light intervals, improved pedestrian detection in advanced driver assistance systems in cars, alongside road safety campaigns that target young male drivers.

“We also need improved infrastructure in our regional and remote communities, such as wider road shoulders and better lighting, as well as enhanced hospital trauma care and post-crash services for at-risk groups.

“This study reminds us that the human cost of road trauma is felt in hospital beds and recovery wards across the country,” added Dr. Soltani.

“If we want to reduce the burden on our health care system—and on families—we need to act now.”