Over those short years, Queensland’s road toll has risen almost 18 per cent, and has recorded 299 deaths this past year, the highest number in the country.

At the same time, the far more-populous state of New South Wales has seen its road toll drop almost 27 per cent from its peak in 2019, of 352 deaths, to 288 deaths in 2022.

And, while Victoria’s road toll has bounced around during this five-year span, climbing just over 7 per cent overall, to reach 240 deaths in 2022, it has fared far better than Queensland this past year.

Yet, both states have larger populations than the Sunshine State and, unlike most other eastern Australian jurisdictions, Queensland has had a worrying, almost year-on-year growth in its road toll since 2019.

On percentage growth, Tasmania has beaten Queensland — albeit from a fairly low base — experiencing a 66 per cent rise from 17 deaths in 2018 to 51 deaths this past year.

The much smaller Australian Capital Territory (which has released figures until October 17), by contrast, saw at least a 50 per cent increase over the five years, after an initial 33 per cent fall from 2018 to 2019.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the country, South Australia (which has released figures until December 29), Western Australia and the Northern Territory had mixed outcomes.

In South Australia, the road toll has risen and fallen, twice, to see a decent fall of around 14 per cent fall over the past five years, with at least 70 deaths officially recorded up until December 29.

Western Australia, similarly, had fluctuations across those years but ended the period with a rise of just over 9 per cent, seeing its 2018 toll of 159 deaths eventually rising to 174 this past year.

While initially dipping from 50 deaths a year in the Northern Territory during 2018, this jurisdiction has gradually built up to 44 deaths last year, still managing an almost 14-per-cent improvement over that time period.

So, Queensland has topped the nation for the number of deaths on its roads, but what does a different comparison show? What happens when we look at the fatality rate per 100,000 population — a fairer, population-adjusted comparison — across Australia’s various jurisdictions?

That sees the Northern Territory shoot to the top of a terrible scale, recording 17.6 deaths per 100,000 population, Tasmanian comes next (with 9), then Western Australia (6.2) and Queensland (5.6). The four remaining states and territories all have fatality rates that begin with a 3.

New link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-02/road-toll-2022-why-is-it-getting-worse-analysis/101821372