Fuel prices and road deaths in Australia

After years of general progress in reducing Australia’s road death toll, road deaths
increased in 2015 and 2016, reaching 1,293 per annum. These were also years of
relatively cheap fuel following the dramatic decline in the world oil price in late 2014. This
study uses monthly data to model the number of road deaths in Australia. Our estimates
suggest that low fuel prices have contributed to knocking Australia off track for meeting
its 2020 road safety target. The paper also provides a discussion of other factors that
may have contributed to the rise in Australia’s road death toll.