This represents 11 fatalities per 100,000 population per year. Young people are affected disproportionately, which is of special concern. The latter groups of road users are more vulnerable than vehicle occupants and are consequently proportionally over-represented among the fatal cases.
Excessive speed is reported to be an important contributory factor in many crashes.
A large body of evidence suggests that there is a positive association between speed and the risk of crash involvement. This evidence includes the findings from case-control studies and from studies of fatality and casualty rates before and after changes to speed limits, and evidence from comparisons of fatality rates for countries with different maximum speed limits. Three case-control studies conducted in the United States more than 20 years ago attempted to elucidate this relationship, but the validity of the results and their interpretation have been questioned. In addition, it is not clear how these results might apply in Australia at the present time. Quantitative knowledge of the relationship between speed and the risk of crash involvement would advance the understanding of the causes of road crashes.