Access to national crash data will help strengthen vehicle safety

The Federal Budget released last night has solidified the Australian Government’s commitment to improve the collection and sharing of nationally-consistent road crash data - a commitment that ANCAP SAFETY applauds.

The Australian Government has committed an investment of $21 million for improvements to its National Road Safety Data Hub which will consolidate road safety data from states and territories. In addition, the Australian Government plans to incorporate a provision in its road funding agreements with states and territories to create a requirement for the provision of a nationally-consistent road safety data set.

“Currently, there is no requirement for state and territory jurisdictions to collect and publish nationally-consistent road crash data making it difficult for evidence-based policy and tangible road safety improvements to be developed,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.

“This commitment from Minister Catherine King and the Albanese Government sees a sensible approach to a clear and unequivocal need, and we congratulate them for their decisive leadership.”

“Vehicle safety has improved in leaps and bounds over the past few decades as a result of focussed efforts from ANCAP and vehicle manufacturers. The number of registered vehicles on our roads however continues to grow and lives continue to be lost in road crashes.”

“The availability of a national dataset which captures crash type, crash environment, crash speed, and importantly vehicle model information will prove invaluable to further enhancing the tests ANCAP undertakes and the safety improvements vehicle manufacturers and policy-makers can make to reverse the escalating road toll.”

“Vision Zero is what we’re all striving for so we look forward to working with the Government and road safety stakeholders to help shape a practical, usable and timely Data Hub,” said Ms Hoorweg.