Road crashes are the biggest killer of young people aged 5-29 years old worldwide. Tragically, the number of people whose lives are also impacted by severe and lifelong injuries from road crashes is even greater. For every person killed an estimated 30 to 50 people are injured.

The dashboard was developed as a partnership of iRAP and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) to understand the scale of the public health issue and ensure the urgency of response is matched to community impact. TAC’s vision is for zero road deaths and serious injuries on Victorian roads.

TAC is a Victorian Government-owned organisation set up to pay for treatment and benefits for people injured in transport accidents, promote road safety and improve Victoria’s trauma system. Working closely with road safety partners, the TAC also invests in safer road infrastructure and develops campaigns that change behaviour and reduce the incidence of road trauma.

As a social insurer, TAC injury data provides unique insight into the injury, crash, road and road user types involved in road crashes, along with the total life-time claim costs that result from injuries. The dashboard highlights where in the health sector the costs fall and when they occur. These costs are often hidden from policy makers and the public and the TAC iRAP Road Injury Dashboard shines a spot-light on the real cost of road trauma.

An example dashboard search highlights 21-25 year olds as the highest risk group. The total cost of crashes for road users aged 21-25 years of age is AUD$1 billion, severe brain injuries are the predominant injury type and young drivers are the road user group most at risk, driving in a 100km/h speed zone. Health sector costs are heavily borne in providing long term care.

Explore the dashboard and full data further at https://www.tac.vic.gov.au/road-safety/statistics/online-crash-database/irap-road-injury-dashboard.

iRAP and AusRAP partners will continue to work together to explore the impact of road crash injury and AusRAP assessment data, with potential links for impact investment and targeted initiatives to reduce road trauma.

Crash costs per kilometre travelled are typically halved with each incremental improvement in a road’s Star Rating. A 5-star road is the most safe, while a 1-star road is the least safe.

A high-level projection of the human impact of road trauma and the business case for safer roads for Australia and worldwide is available at https://www.vaccinesforroads.org/

According to the iRAP Vaccines for Roads Big Data Tool achieving >75% of travel on 3-star or better roads for all road users in Australia by 2030 stands to save 65,541 fatalities and series injuries over 20 years with an economic benefit of USD$60 billion.

Images source: TAC