INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

Australian road traffic deaths are compared with those for other selected OECD nations in table 24.33. Australia's rate of 6.8 road deaths per 100,000 persons in 2009 was considerably lower than the rates of Poland (12.0), the United States of America (11.0) and New Zealand (8.9). However, Australia's rate was markedly higher than the United Kingdom (3.8), Sweden (3.9) and Japan and Switzerland (both 4.5).

Australia's rate of road deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles (1.0) was the same as the OECD median. For the countries listed, New Zealand had the highest death rate per 10,000 registered vehicles (1.2).

The number of fatalities per 100 million vehicle-kilometres travelled in Australia in 2009 is 0.7.

24.33 ROAD TRAFFIC FATALITIES, International comparisons—2009
	People killed				Total population
Country	no.	per 100,000 persons	per 10,000 registered vehicles	per 100 mill. vehicle-km travelled	mill.
Australia	1 492	6.8	1.0	0.7	22.0
France	4 273	6.8	1.1	na	62.5
Germany	4 152	5.1	0.8	na	82.0
Japan	5 772	4.5	0.7	na	127.5
New Zealand	384	8.9	1.2	na	4.3
Poland	4 572	12.0	na	na	38.2
Portugal	840	7.9	na	na	10.6
Spain	2 714	5.9	na	na	45.8
Sweden	358	3.9	0.7	na	9.3
Switzerland	349	4.5	na	na	7.7
United Kingdom	2 337	3.8	0.7	na	61.8
United States of America	33 808	11.0	na	na	307.0
OECD median	na	6.4	1.0	na	na
na not available
Source: Department of Infrastructure and Transport.