MAJOR iNCIDENT INVESTIGATION
REPORT 2024
Senator Carol Brown
Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
“The 2024 report is the start of an exciting collaborative journey, one that will continue to evolve and grow, and reflects a simple philosophy:
road safety is a shared responsibility and is simply good business.”
KEY FINDINGS
1
The overall rate of incidents has increased in 2023, equating to a 27% increase since 2022. This shows a continuing and accelerating trend observed since 2020.
1,634
Major loss claims above $50k in 2023, up from 1282 in 2022.
INCIDENT COUNT CORRECTED FOR INFLATION
KEY FINDINGS
Losses have increased in almost all cause codes, with the sharpest increases in crashes related to human factors seeing a 42% increase since 2022.
42%
Human Factors Incidents have increase in 2023 from 2022
INCIDENTS BY PRINCIPAL CAUSE
INCIDENTS BY HUMAN FACTORS CAUSE
KEY FINDINGS
3
Inattention/Distraction is by far the most prevalent contributing factor for incidents in 2023 with double the rate of any other cause in 2023. Incidents attributed to Inattention/Distraction have increased 75% since 2022 and in 5 years have seen an increase of 2.6 times.
70%
Inattention/distraction incidents
have increased in 2023 from 2022
INATTENTION/ DISTRACTION INCIDENTS BY YEAR
INATTENTION/ DISTRACTION INCIDENTS BY YEAR
65%
Inattention/distraction incidents were single vehicle in 2023.
37%
Inattention/distraction incidents were ‘off path on straight’ in 2023.
KEY FINDINGS
4
Over a five-year period, Inappropriate Speed incidents have increased 41%. In 2023 the vast majority of these incidents involved only a single vehicle at 89% and resulted in the heavy vehicle off path on curve incidents at 85%.
41%
Inattention/distraction incidents have increased in 2023 from 2022
INAPPROPRIATE SPEED INCIDENTS BY YEAR
85%
Inappropriate speed incidents were ‘off path on curve’ in 2023.
KEY FINDINGS
5
Over a five-year period, the rate of inadequate following distance incidents has increased by 73.5%. Inadequate following distance incidents resulted mainly in a collision with the rear of a third-party vehicle, in major cities and largely between heavy vehicles and cars traveling in the same direction.
74%
Inadequate following distance incidents have increased in 2023 from 2019.
INAPPROPRIATE FOLLOWING DISTANCE INCIDENTS BY YEAR
96%
Inadequate following distance incidents were ‘vehicles from same direction’ in 2023.
81%
Inadequate following distance incidents occurred in major cities in 2023.
Further Information
Mr Jerome Carslake
National Road Safety Partnership Program
21 Alliance Lane Wellington Road
Monash University Clayton Campus
Victoria 3800 Australia
Jerome.carslake@monash.edu.au
www.nrspp.org.au
Mr Adam Gibson
NTI
300 George Street
NTI Brisbane Office
Queensland 4000 Australia
adamgibson@nti.com.au
www.nti.com.au
Dr Jasmine Proud
Monash University Accident Research Centre
21 Alliance Lane Wellington Road
Monash University Clayton Campus
Victoria 3800 Australia
jasmine.proud@monash.edu
www.monash.edu.au/muarc