Road crashes are one of the main causes of death among Indigenous Australians, with 1 in 3 Indigenous deaths due to transport-related injury. Indigenous Australians are 3 times more likely to be killed in a road crash than non-Indigenous Australians. Indigenous casualties are more likely to be a passenger or pedestrian.

THE FACTS

  • Road crashes constitute one of the main causes of death among Indigenous Australians (just under 30% of Indigenous deaths are due to transportrelated injury).
  • Indigenous crashes are typically more severe in terms of injury outcomes and social cost. Indigenous Australians are   3 times more likely to be killed and 1.4   times more likely to be hospitalised due  to a land transport crash than non Indigenous Australians.
  • Indigenous casualties are more likely to be a passenger or pedestrian, while   non-Indigenous casualties are more  likely to be drivers or riders.
  • Indigenous crash victims are slightly more likely than non-Indigenous to be female and typically five years younger in age.
  • Indigenous crashes are more likely to occur at night, while non-Indigenous crashes are most prevalent in the afternoon.

Why are Indigenous people at higher risk?

  • Characteristics of Indigenous road trauma are different in some ways to those of nonIndigenous road trauma, being a product of lifestyle, and cultural and behavioural factors, as well as environment.

This factsheet provides a snapshot of risk factors for Indigenous people based on findings from the North Queensland Rural and Remote Road Safety Study and an interrogation of Queensland crash data.  This Australian-first program of research was undertaken by CARRS-Q and James Cook University’s Rural Health Research Unit in collaboration with Queensland Government.  It specifically examined the reasons behind higher crash rates in rural and remote Queensland with a view to developing strategies to reduce the associated economic, medical and social costs.

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