Car Accidents Cost Australia $17 billion dollars a year

A study released today from the University of Queensland has found that the annual cost of accidents on Australian roads totals $17 billion dollars a year! That is truly remarkable. The cost includes everything that happens on the road: fatal and non-fatal accidents, the human costs such as hospitalisation and workplace disruption, as well as vehicle and other costs, such as provision of emergency services.

“The damage and pain inflicted by more than 25,000 serious injury accidents each year is reflected in these costs. But our totals don’t even touch on the considerable burden that non-fatal injuries can impose on the victims and the families who care for them” Dr Connelly said.

25,000 serious injury accidents a year! Thats ~68 serious injuries everyday! The more interesting find in the study was the troubles that the Northern Territory are facing. As the last remaining haven for Speeders, the northern territory had the worst statistics when it came to accidents.

The report shows that the rate of fatalities in the Northern Territory is more than three times that of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, the three most populous states, and equates to 3.63 percent of the Territory’s economic output.

Doesn’t sound good for the NT, perhaps speed limits are the answer? A very difficult notion to argue, one that I truly don’t support. However with the costs so high and the figures so daunting, its more than obvious that something needs to be done! Stay tuned for a possible knee jerk reaction by the NT government.