INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

Australia, along with many western countries, has worked hard to reduce deaths and injuries from motor vehicle accidents. In 2007, Australia was ranked 14th safest amongst 29 OECD nations in regards to road deaths per capita, with a figure of 7.6 road fatalities per 100,000 people. This figure was lower than nations such as Poland (14.7 per 100,000), the United States (13.6 per 100,000) and New Zealand (10.0 per 100,000), and lower than the OECD median of 7.8. However, Australia still recorded more fatalities per capita than the Netherlands (4.3 per 100,000) and the United Kingdom (5.0 per 100,000) which were amongst the safest nations in the OECD. Between 1995 and 2007, the OECD median road fatality rate per capita decreased by 36.5%.