The national road toll has stagnated since 1997.

The NMAA expresses its concern at the lack of vision in the Australian Transport Council "Action Plan".
This report has been prepared for the Australian Transport Council, comprising State and Territory Transport Ministers. The over-emphasis on speed prevails and a further lowering of speed limits is definitely under consideration. 

Unfortunately, with their excessive focus on speed, the state governments are failing dismally. They are not meeting the targets on their commitment to reduce road fatalities.  

Source: http://www.atcouncil.gov.au/actionplan.pdf

Senator Ron Boswell's press release about roads being safer now than in 1980 appears to have been a smoke screen and a precursor to the anticipated outcome of even more emphasis on speed. Notably, the Senator's release does not mention these words from the Contents section of report: "Australia achieved significant reductions in the road toll in the early and mid 1990s but since 1997 the road toll has remained constant". Similar wording is used in the Review on page 5: "...but the total number of road fatalities nationally has been largely static since 1997".

Source: http://www.ronboswell.com/m2003.76.html

Yet the Action Plan states on page 26 that speeds have been reduced: "data from speed camera programs suggests that speeds have been reduced and are now being contained, but..." 

Clearly, the promise from academia that focusing on speed would reduce the road toll has failed to deliver.
By every ratio (fatalities per 10,000 regos, per population, per distance travelled), the statistics from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) show stagnation since 1997.

These are words from pages 10 and 26 of the ATC Action Plan:
* Statistical variation
- at a national level, most statistical variations in fatalities from year to year should
be within the range of ± 2%, but larger variations are possible;
- statistical variation in individual jurisdictions can be much larger, in percentage
terms;
- however, it is most unlikely that the plateau in national road fatalities since 1997
is the result of a long series of statistical fluctuations around an underlying
downward trend.

The state governments appear oblivious to the fact that the over-emphasis on speed has not been working for the past five years. Rational government would dictate a change of direction to achieve an effective road safety strategy.

It is more than amazing that these people appear to be ignoring Federal Transport Minister John Anderson who expressed concern at the plateauing of the road toll and the over-emphasis on 'speed'.

The Action Plan seems to be at complete odds with his words:  "...Mr Anderson criticised the emphasis on speed in road safety campaigns and expressed concern it "may blind us to other causes". 

The NMAA has been explaining that this over-emphasis on speed, in research priorities and advertising campaigns, has seriously impeded attempts to reduce the road toll.  Post-licence driver training is an obvious priority area. Improving vehicle visibility with daytime headlamps is an example of improving primary safety. The ATC should be addressing issues which focus directly on road safety.

The NMAA recommends a full and dispassionate review of the statistics followed by a logical prioritisation of resources.

Reference material

Sydney Morning Herald quotes: 

Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson has ordered an inquiry into the nation's road deaths "amid concerns that safety experts might be focusing too heavily on speed". Mr Anderson said "[The road toll] has come down very well in the last decade or so, but is has plateaued in recent times". SMH, 7/1/03. 
Source URL: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/06/1041566362718.html

"Earlier this month, Mr Anderson criticised the emphasis on speed in road safety campaigns and expressed concern it "may blind us to other causes". SMH, 1/2/03.
Source URL: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804519484.html