NSW ended 2025 with 355 people losing their lives on our roads. It is a number that should give all of us pause.
And that’s because behind this number sits a devastating truth: someone in our state is dying on our roads almost every single day.
This is not an abstract statistic. These are people who left home expecting to return. Families who answered the door to police instead of a loved one. Communities who will carry the weight of these losses for years.
When the number of deaths reaches this scale, we owe it to every one of those 355 people to stop and confront what is driving this tragedy.
And the evidence is clear: speed is killing people.
Not just the extreme behaviour that draws headlines or news bulletins. Not just the rare, reckless conduct captured on dashcams or social media.
What ends lives on NSW roads, day after day, is often far more ordinary.
A few kilometres over the limit; a few kilometres faster in the rain; a few kilometres quicker on a familiar stretch of road. A subconscious press of the pedal.
Small increases in speed, at the wrong moment, leave no room to recover.
Trauma specialists, crash investigators and first responders tell me the same thing: even minor speeding dramatically increases the force of a collision and reduces the chance of survival. This is not opinion. It’s physics.
Throughout 2025, the Minns Government strengthened the foundations of road safety across the state by investing $2.8 billion over four years.
This includes upgrades to high-risk corridors, improvements to intersections, wider shoulders, strengthened pavements, and the introduction of landmark motorcycle safety reforms.
We are also expanding enforcement with an average speed camera trial and new seatbelt detection cameras. And we are increasing police presence and investing in evidence-based behavioural campaigns.
These initiatives are saving lives. But it’s clearly not enough.
We need to be honest about the limits of infrastructure, technology and enforcement. They make the road environment safer, but they cannot override a decision made when we sit in the driver’s seat.
Most of us are not reckless on the road. We are managing everyday pressures: traffic, fatigue, distraction, weather. But these pressures mean our margin for error is shrinking, and speed erases that margin faster than anything else.
So, as we begin 2026, the message is clear: slow down.
Speeding could cost you your life, or the life of someone you love. It could also end the life of someone you have never met. So, please, give yourself time, give others space and always drive to the conditions.
Road safety is not built on perfection. It is built on responsibility – the quiet, everyday responsibility we owe to ourselves, to the people we love, and to those we share the road with.
If we take that responsibility seriously, 2026 can be the year we begin to turn these numbers around.
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For starters our police are too busy focused on the illegal tobacco trade rather then manning our roads for a start.Or busy working on the protests going on in this country.And our goverment only has them selves to blame for tying up our police resources because of the ridiculous cost they are incurring on innocent Australians who choose to smoke .They say it’s for health reasons but as Australians ,we are not stupid.Its all about revenue.And that’s the truth.Over this Christmas period I have not seen any police presence on our rural roads cause they were all deployed to Sydney I am guessing in case off another terrorist attack.And we should not have to have our police resources tied up for that either.But once again that problem comes down to our current goverment.Letting Aliens in to our country to simply secure votes and that’s the truth again.You don’t have to be Einstein to work out why so many people are dying on our roads.Its because our resources are to busy dealing with problems that don’t have to exist but they do because of greed.They don’t care about human life
Sue Garrett well said. Not to mention the roads are not built properly to start with. Patches and thin surfaces and our taxes going on everything but what is important, don’t get me started. Government officials should get normal pay rates, not $400,000 a year. Maybe that way they will understand the common man’s woes.
Too much of a hurry.
Slow drivers at 85kph on the highway in good conditions frustrate drivers who take passing risks
Inconsiderate caravan owners who speed up on dual carriage ways.
My opinion is that while we definitely need to slow drivers down, doing that would mean getting more police on the roads to actually stop speeding vehicles, and I don’t really see the state government authorising anything that would increase the budget for the police.
Leitha Hyde- it’s all very well to increase the budget and yeah a higher pay packet might encourage more recruits, but the problem is from what I have heard that their isn’t enough recruits coming in and their isn’t enough police in the force.
In my personal opinion and experience- if govts were serious about cutting the road toll then they would tighten the licensing system. Sadly govts only care for Sydney, and want more revenue.
I support re- opening the rail line north of Armidale to get drivers off the roads who probably don’t have the skills to be there in the first place, those that speed up as someone tries to overtake them is a great example of someone who in my opinion doesn’t have the skills to have an open and unrestricted license in the first place.
Good luck telling that to govt though.
Charlie Begg hence why I said that I didn’t see the state government doing anything that would increase the budget, recruiting new cadets and training them costs money. And like most governments, city areas tend to get larger slices of the budget funds than country areas.
I do agree about the rail lines, but not just for passengers. Opening them for freight would also have the potential of removing long distance trucks and buses off our roads, in theory reducing wear and tear caused by heavy vehicles.
Fix the roads for a start
Gaslit by a government minister again.
Yes speeding is an issue, but how about the state government take responsibility and sink the money into decent road surfaces and roads in general before putting all of the blame on people out there.
If the roads were anything like those in the US or Europe then maybe we could take the full responsibility.
Until the roads are 100% I will still hold out governments partially responsible for the numbers.
Can we consider some other factors in these statistics beyond the poor conditions of the road. Factors such as the distances driven the many NSW drivers who live beyond the NSW (Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong). And the total population of NSW drivers (approximately 5.5million) plus visitors that have limited knowledge of the local roads. How many of these unfortunate deaths were contributed to by drugs, or alcohol, or wandering wild life. Maybe it is possible to legislate to irradicate completely the possibility of an “accident”, but then you have removed “life” as well.
Fix the roads in the country areas
Mending roads properly first time has to be cheaper than continuous patch ups that are lucky to stay in place for a week
DRIVER EDUCATION BOTH ATTITUDE AND SKILLS, then reduced speed for those who dont pass the regular tests.
A driver with skills can handle any road or hazard. Less crashes and less carnage saves on insurance, as well as emergency services and hospital admissions. Mandatory driver training to be eligible for an open licence and refresher courses to retain it will create a whole new lucrative industry in addition to whats already in place.
Too many think that as long as they are under the number in the red circle then nothing else matters, including how many vehicles are stuck behind them waiting???
I support a law that if you have a set number of vehicles behind you and you refuse to pull over to let them pass then you risk receiving a fine – sadly this will upset the bottom 5% of drivers that govts want on the roads, yet probably shouldn’t be.
The licensing system at large is a complete joke in NSW – designed for and by Sydney people with no concern for anyone else out there – except the bottom 5% of drivers.
A real full license to me would include an advanced and defensive driver training courses as a bare minimum, not to mention a list of other components. Sadly there is no revenue for city centric state govts or power in such a plan. Thus why I don’t see city centric govts bringing in such a plan even if on a trial basis for a set period of time & prove to disillusioned voters like myself that a tight licensing system won’t work.
Given the road toll has risen every year since the end of covid how is the govts plan working ???? It’s not, but they are raising plenty of revenue though.
But I hate to think how much revenue they rake in???? One day I would love to look it up through the treasury papers & can get reported on in some media.
I would be dead if $peed kill$ – no ifs, no buts no lame excuses – just dead if $peed kill$
Boredom, frustration and distraction do more damage on rural and regional roads today but city centric govts will never admit to that.
I support re-opening the rail line from Armidale through to Wallangarra or even and eventually Brisbane due to the rising road toll – sadly no1 outside Sydney matters. To remove low skilled drivers from the roads. I bet their are plenty of other rail lines throughout regional NSW that should be re-opened as well- the Mudgee line is a great example.
I have long stopped listening to both sides of govt regards road $afety – still $peeding but and still here. As such I won’t waiste my time reading their article. I have zoned out.
$peed doesn’t kill – its just easy to tax.
It’s not $peed that’s the problem – it’s the sudden stop that gets you.
The fact that Tamworth and the North west only get 1 train per day each way in this day and age is a complete joke.
As a bare minimum Tamworth should get a 6am train to Newcastle with a connection to Sydney and an 8pm return.
Daily.
I see this as the easy option by the minister involved. They won’t make the hard decisions. Aka true leadership, would say the same if the lnp was still in power.
If $peed is so dangerous why is it not tested to drive at country highway or freeway $peed at some point during the licensing system??? But especially as a person gets to the full licence?????
Yes an open Rd speed test would likely require a licencing fee of some sort, but after that where does the revenue come from ?????
There wouldn’t be any and thus why gruberments won’t bring it in, besides it would likely remove the bottom 5% from the roads which gruberments want on the roads.
I support some sort of regular retraining once every 5 years and some people may go as often as once every 3 years.
Trains.