Interesting Statistics

Car crashes – Serious injuries and deaths by road user, gender and age

Transport for NSW provides regular statistics on how many people are affected by car crashes throughout NSW.

Table 1 – Serious injuries by road user, year ending December 2023

	December 2023	December 2022	Change %
Driver	3,315	3,146	+5%
Passenger	1,170	1,031	+13%
Motorcyclist	2,765	2,426	+14%
Pedestrian	868	893	-3%
Cyclist	1,829	1,700	+8%
Other	608	515	+18%
Total	10,555	9,711	+9%

Table 1 shows only pedestrians saw a drop in serious injuries while passengers and motorcyclists had more injuries that year.

Table 2 – Serious injuries by gender, year ending December 2023

	December 2023	December 2022
Male	7,098 (67%)	6,572 (68%)
Female	3,453 (33%)	3,138 (32%)
Total	10,555	9,711

Table 2 shows men consistently make up over two thirds of serious injuries in road accidents.

Table 3 – Serious injuries by age group, year ending December 2023

Age group	December 2023	December 2022	Change %
Under 16	854	781	+9%
17-25	1,961	1,689	+16%
26-39	2,297	2,038	+13%
40-49	1,315	1,280	+3%
50-69	1,373	1,333	+3%
Over 70	1,524	1,431	+6%
Total	10,555	9,711	+9%

Table 3 shows no drops in serious injuries during the year. The biggest increases in serious injuries were for 17-25s and 26-39s.

Note: The following statistics on road deaths are compared with the 3-year average, rather than the previous year.

Table 4 – Deaths by road user, year ending June 2024

	June 2024	3-Year average	Change %
Driver	178	138.3	+29%
Passenger	60	42.0	+43%
Motorcyclist	64	54.0	+19%
Pedestrian	48	43.7	+10%
Cyclist	8	8.0	0%
Total	358	286.0	+25%

Table 4 shows big increases in deaths, compared to the Covid-affected 3-year average. Passengers suffered the highest increase by far followed by drivers.

Table 5 – Deaths by gender, year ending June 2024

	June 2024	3-Year average
Male	285 (80%)	212.3 (74%)
Female	72 (20%)	73.7 (26%)
Total	358	286.0

Table 5 shows 4 out of 5 deaths were men, and well above the 3-year average in NSW.

Table 6 – Deaths by age group, year ending June 2024

Age group	June 2024	3-Year average	Change %
Under 16	20	18.3	+9%
17-25	74	53.6	+38%
26-39	72	56.0	+29%
40-49	39	34.0	+15%
50-69	40	35.3	+13%
Over 70	58	60.0	+8%
Total	351	280	+25%

Table 6 shows deaths increased most in 17-25s, then in 26-39 year olds. There were no decreases.

General comments

• Rate of deaths per 100,000 population was 4.24 at June 2024, up since Covid-affected years from 3.8 at June 2023, 3.5 at June 2022 and 3.6 at June 2021. The rate in June 2016 was 5.0 per 100,000.
• Rate of serious injuries per 100,000 population was 126.5 at December 2023, up from 117.7 at December 2022, similar to 126.2 at December 2021. Peak in December 2013 was 145.5 per 100,000.
• Total deaths increased by 25% and total serious injuries increased by 9% from Covid-affected averages.
• Men make up 4 out of 5 deaths and over 2 thirds of serious injuries.
• Passengers had big increases in deaths and serious injuries during the year.

Sources

All information is taken from Transport for NSW bulletins:

• Monthly Bulletin of Preliminary Traffic Crash Data
• Quarterly Bulletin of Serious Injury Crash Data.