Driving for work is one of the riskiest activities workers undertake in their working day, with the operation of vehicles for work vastly over-represented in crashes and injuries. This Fact Sheet dives deeper into the key numbers behind road trauma statistics.

Leading cause of death

Vehicle fatalities are currently the leading cause of death in Australia, and motor vehicle crashes have become the leading cause of death at work. Safe Work Australia figures show more than two thirds of worker fatalities involve vehicles. People injured in a work-related vehicle crash require more time off work to recover from injury compared to other work-related injuries. And people driving for work may also be considered more at risk, partly because on average they drive almost twice the annual kilometres of non-work drivers. Overall there are more than 1100 vehicle fatalities every year in Australia. Globally, vehicle crashes cause the death of 1.35 million people each year and are the leading cause of death for children and young adults (ages from 5 to 29 years old), according to the World Health Organization. Millions more suffer from injuries caused by road crashes.

Read more on the Q&A: Safe and Unsafe Drivers and the Infographic: Safe and Unsafe Drivers.

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