Young Adult Road Safety – A Statistical Picture

This paper presents latest available Australian and international statistics on the road safety of young adults. Selected
key results are:

• In developed countries, road crashes account for around a quarter of all deaths in the 15–24 years age group.
• World-wide, this age group is over-represented in road crashes, with a population based annual fatality rate over 50% higher than for other age groups.
• During the last five years, road crash outcomes in this age-group have improved significantly faster than most other ages. In Australia fatalities are now 29% lower than five years ago.
• All Australian jurisdictions have achieved reductions in the last five years.
• The highest period for risk is shortly after licensure, and continues up to age 24.
• Males are over-represented in road crash fatalities generally, and even more so in young adult fatalities.
• In fatal crashes, young adults usually die as an occupant of a vehicle (77%), and often (67%) in single vehicle crashes.
• Comparing fatal road crashes involving the deaths of young adults with the total, the former are skewed towards the weekend and night-time hours.