Victorian road trauma data: why it matters
Every year, we collect and report on data on lives lost and people injured on our roads.
We’ve released new Road Trauma in Victoria: Statistical Summaries for 2024 and 2023 – making our road crash data easier to access and understand.
Our reports highlight key changes and trends over the past 10 years and give a clear picture of where crashes happened, who was affected, and what kinds of vehicles were involved. They include information on drivers, riders, passengers, cyclists, pedestrians and more – from both metropolitan and country areas.
New data available in these reports includes:
- Licensing and registration data
- Road trauma crashes – driver and rider involvement data
- Driver and rider drug and alcohol data
- MAIS 3+ injury data.
The reports expand on data currently available on the Transport Victoria Open Data Portal(opens in a new window), where users can build their own queries, use the map function to visualise crash data, or download data for their own analysis from 2012 onwards.
How are these reports created?
Victoria Police and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) collect a range of crash data about the people involved, the vehicles, the location, the type of crash and the injuries. The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) reviews, verifies and validates this data to prepare a statistical summary.
The 2024 summary includes fatal crashes from the 2024 calendar year and serious
injuries from the 2023-24 financial year, plus comparisons with the previous 10 years.
How can these reports be used?
The data in each statistical summary is useful for a range of professional, government and community groups to help make Victorian roads safer.
- Local councils can use the data to plan safer roads.
- It can help transport consultancies and engineers to design better roads and intersections.
- Researchers can study long-term trends to find what's working well and what can be improved.
- Victoria Police and Victorian Government agencies can use the statistics to develop road safety messages.
- Road safety advocates and community groups can use the information to advocate for local projects and promote road safety education.
This information helps everyone make smarter road safety choices that can save lives.
2024 lives lost snapshot
- In 2024, 284 people tragically lost their lives on Victorian roads. This is 33 (13%) more than the average for the previous 10 years (2014 to 2023).
- The annual rate of lives lost per 100,000 population in 2024 was substantially lower in Victoria (4.07) than for the whole of Australia (4.78).
- 55% were vehicle drivers or passengers, 22% were motorcyclists, 21% were pedestrians and bicyclists, and 2% were e-scooter riders.
- 62 motorcyclists lost their lives. This is a 49% increase on the average of 42 across the previous 10 years.
- At least 10% of motorcyclists and 18% of bicyclists who lost their lives were not wearing a helmet when they crashed.
- 33% of people who lost their lives were travelling in or on a vehicle aged 15 years or more.
- At least 20% of motorcyclists and 6% of drivers involved in fatal crashes did not hold a current licence or learner permit for the vehicle they were operating.
- Fatalities were almost equally divided between metropolitan and country areas, with 48% occurring in metropolitan Melbourne and 52% in regional Victoria.
- 39% of fatalities occurred in 100 km/h speed zones.
- 43% of fatalities were the result of run-off-road and other loss-of-control crashes.
2024 serious injuries snapshot
Serious injuries are defined as injuries requiring admission to hospital within 7 days of the crash.
- In the 2023-24 financial year, 5,617 people suffered serious injuries.
- 64% were vehicle drivers or passengers, 17% were motorcyclists and 18% were pedestrians and bicyclists.
- Almost two-thirds (64%) of serious injuries happened in metropolitan Melbourne, with the remaining 36% in regional Victoria.
- 45% of serious injuries occurred in 50 km/h or 60 km/h speed zones.
- 13% of drivers involved in serious injury crashes held a probationary licence at the time of the crash.
Note: Serious injuries are reported in financial years.
2024 MAIS 3+ injures snapshot
The Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) rates the severity of individual injuries on a scale from 1 (minor) to 6 (maximal). MAIS 3+ injuries are very severe, life-threatening injuries from crashes.
- In the 2023-24 financial year, 1,079 people suffered MAIS 3+ injuries. This is 148 (16%) more than the average of the previous 10 years.
- More than half (55%) of those with MAIS 3+ injuries were vehicle drivers or passengers, followed by motorcyclists and pillion passengers (25%) and pedestrians and bicyclists (20%).
- The majority of MAIS 3+ injuries (62%) occurred in metropolitan Melbourne, with the remaining 38% in regional Victoria.
- 21% of MAIS 3+ injuries occurred in crashes where the speed limit was 30–50 km/h, 52% in 60–80 km/h zones, 23% in 90–100 km/h zones and 1% in 110 km/h speed zones.
- 45% of people suffering MAIS 3+ injuries were travelling in a vehicle aged 10 years or more.
Note: MAIS +3 injuries are reported in financial years.
Downloads
Useful links
DTP provides road crash statistics to organisations, researchers and the general public to help with education, research and the development of road safety programs and initiatives.
Victorian Road Crash Data(opens in a new window)
Road Crash Map(opens in a new window)
Updated