NMAA research officer Kim Jupe said "Only some States or Territories now produce regular updates or reports. Some states seem to have given up completely or their statistics are impossible to find. The best reports on road statistics are provided by NSW and Victoria which produce regular and reasonably comprehensive monthly reports, plus basic weekly and daily updates. But NSW only released its annual reports for 2002 and 2003 very late in 2004 in response to criticism by the chairman of the NSW Staysafe road safety committee".

"South Australia comes next with regular daily, weekly and monthly reports but they are very light on detail," Mr Jupe said. "Tasmania and the ACT produce regular quarterly reports, but they are also very light on detail and rather slow in being issued" he said.

Mr Jupe said "The Northern Territory used to produce regular monthly reports, but changed to quarterly reports from January 2004 and the last one is for the September 2004 quarter. Queensland used to produce regular monthly reports but hasn’t published anything since the December 2003 quarterly report. Bringing up the rear is Western Australia which has produced absolutely nothing since the 2001 annual report."

"To top it off, the most detailed comprehensive and useful report of them all, the ATSB Road Fatalities Australia Statistical Summary which pulls together the fatality statistics for all the States and Territories, hasn’t surfaced since 2002" Mr Jupe said. "What is going on? We’re nearly half way through 2005 and they haven’t released the 2004 report yet, let alone the 2003 report" he said.

Mr Jupe said "The other matter of great concern is the plateauing of road crash fatalities since 1997. The decline in road fatality ratios over the five decades until 1997 has faded to almost nothing. There has been a loss of trend with the over-emphasis on speed and associated revenue."

"To date in 2005, most of the more populous states are doing worse than at the same time last year. For example, Victorian road fatalities at 22 May 2005 are 157 compared to 145 last year, and South Australian fatalities at 23 May 2005 are 63 compared to 50 last year.

NSW fatalities are down only 5 from last year and fatal crashes are up by 5. The only state showing any significant improvement on last year is Tasmania, mainly because last year was unusually bad," Mr Jupe said.

"So, the burning question is why have so many States and Territories apparently given up on publishing fatal crash statistics, and why is the ATSB so far behind with its annual reports?" Mr Jupe said. "Are they afraid to let the public know the story the statistics tell or are they just slack?"

For further comment Mr Kim Jupe can be contacted by phone on 0412 625 925 or by e-mail at kimjupe@tpg.com.au

Note: ATSB is an abbreviation for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.