Trends in injury deaths, Australia, 1999–00 to 2016–17

This appendix presents additional summary statistics for unintentional transport injury deaths in 2016–17 that were due to events that occurred in traffic. The deaths included in this appendix are a subset of the unintentional transport injury deaths presented in Transport crashes.

Case selection

Restricting unintentional transport injury deaths to those due to road injury required the following selection criteria to be used:

• The UCoD is classified to ICD-10 (WHO 2016) external cause codes in the ranges V02–V04 (.1), V09.2, V09.3, V12–V14 (.4–.6), V19 (.4–.6, .9), V20–V28 (.4–.9), V29 (.4–.6, .9), V30–V38 (.5–.9), V39 (.4–.6, .9), V40–V48 (.5–.9), V49 (.4–.6, .9), V50–V58 (.5–.9), V59 (.4–.6, .9), V60–V68 (.5–.9), V69 (.4–.6, .9), V70–V78 (.5–.9), V79 (.4–.6,.9), V81.1, V82.1, V82.9, V83–V86 (.0–.3), V87, V89.2 or V89.3 of Chapter XX External causes of morbidity and mortality
• At least 1 MCoD is classified to external cause codes in the ranges V02–V04 (.1), V09.2, V09.3, V12–V14 (.4–.6), V19 (.4–.6, .9), V20–V28 (.4–.9), V29 (.4–.6, .9), V30–V38 (.5–.9), V39 (.4–.6, .9), V40–V48 (.5–.9), V49 (.4–.6, .9), V50–V58 (.5–.9), V59 (.4–.6,.9), V60–V68 (.5–.9), V69 (.4–.6, .9), V70–V78 (.5–.9), V79 (.4–.6 .9), V81.1, V82.1, V82.9, V83–V86 (.0–.3), V87, V89.2 or V89.3, or at least 1 MCoD is classified to diagnosis codes in the range S00–T75 or T79 (Injury).

How many deaths due to unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury were there in 2016–17?

Motor vehicle traffic injuries accounted for 1,176 injury deaths in Australia during 2016–17, 9% of all injury deaths for this period (Table B.1). Motor vehicle traffic injury deaths were 2.9 times as common for males as for females.

Table B.1: Key indicators for unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths, by sex, 2016–17

Indicator	Males	Females	Persons
Number	876	300	1,176
Percentage of all injury deaths	11.0	5.8	8.9
Age-standardised rate (deaths per 100,000 population)	7.2	2.3	4.7

Source: AIHW NMD.

Age and sex

In 2016–17, people aged 25–44 accounted for almost 32% of all unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths, while those aged 45–64 accounted for a further 23% (Table B.2). The proportion of deaths within each age group was broadly similar for males and females.

Table B.2: Unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths, by age and sex, 2016–17

Age group	Males		Females		Persons
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
0–4	5	0.6	8	2.7	13	1.1
5–14	18	2.1	6	2.0	24	2.0
15–24	190	21.7	46	15.3	236	20.1
25–44	300	34.2	74	24.7	374	31.8
45–64	197	22.5	75	25.0	272	23.1
65+	166	18.9	91	30.3	257	21.9
Total	876	100.0	300	100.0	1,176	100.0

Source: AIHW NMD.

State or territory of usual residence

In 2016–17, the age-standardised rate for unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths for residents of the Northern Territory (15.3 deaths per 100,000 population) was 3.3 times that of the national rate of 4.7 deaths per 100,000 population (Table B.3).

Residents of Western Australia recorded the second highest rate (7.2 deaths per 100,000), while residents of the Australian Capital Territory recorded the lowest rate (2.1 deaths per 100,000).

Table B.3: Unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths, by state/territory of usual residence, 2016–17

Indicator	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT
Number	311	253	268	183	83	29	9	40
%	26.4	21.5	22.8	15.6	7.1	2.5	0.8	3.4
Age-standardised rate (deaths per 100,000 population)	3.9	3.9	5.5	7.2	4.5	5.5	2.1	15.3

Source: AIHW NMD.

Remoteness of usual residence

In 2016–17, the age-standardised rate of unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths rose with increasing remoteness of residence (Table B.4). The rate for residents of Very remote areas was 5.5 times the rate for residents of Major cities.

Table B.4: Unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths, by remoteness of usual residence^(b), 2016–17

Indicators	Major cities	Inner regional	Outer regional	Remote	Very remote
Number(a)	545	342	195	29	33
%	47.6	29.9	17.0	2.6	2.9
Age-standardised rate (deaths per 100,000 population)	3.0	7.9	9.7	9.8	16.5

Notes: 

1. Excludes 32 death where remoteness was not reported.
2. Derived using the ASGS classification.

Source: AIHW NMD.

Socioeconomic area

In 2016–17, the age-standardised rate of unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths rose with socioeconomic disadvantage (Table B.5). The highest rates were among residents of the 2 most disadvantaged socioeconomic areas. The rate for people living in the second lowest socioeconomic area (6.5 deaths per 100,000 population) was 2.8 times the rate for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas (2.3 per 100,000 population).

Table B.5: Unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths, by socioeconomic area, 2016–17

Indicator	Socioeconomic area
	1—lowest	2	3	4	5-highest
Number	304	321	235	166	118
%	25.9	27.3	20.0	14.1	10.0
Age-standardised rate (deaths per 100,000 population)	6.1	6.5	4.7	3.3	2.3

Note: Excludes 32 death where SEIFA quintile was not reported.
Source: AIHW NMD.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

In 2016–17, the age-standardised rate of unintentional transport injury deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 2.6 times as high as the rate for non-Indigenous Australians (Table B.6).

Table B.6: Key indicators for unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths, by Indigenous status and sex, 2016–17

Indicator	Indigenous			Non-Indigenous
	Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons
Number	55	21	76	592	197	789
Age-standardised rate (deaths per 100,000 population)	18.7	6.1	12.3	7.2	2.2	4.7
Rate ratio(a)	2.6	2.8	2.6	. .	. .	. .
Rate difference(b)	11.5	3.9	7.6	. .	. .	. .

Notes: 

1. Rate ratios are standardised rates for Indigenous males, females, and persons divided by standardised rates for non-Indigenous males, females, and persons.
2. Rate differences are standardised rates for Indigenous males, females, and persons minus standardised rates for non-Indigenous males, females, and persons.

Includes data for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory (see Box 1.2).

Source: AIHW NMD.

Differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians for the proportions of unintentional transport injury deaths in each age group were difficult to interpret, due to small numbers in some age groups (Table B.7).

Notably, the proportions of injury deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males and females aged 65 and over were much lower than for non-Indigenous Australians of the same age.

Table B.7: Unintentional motor vehicle traffic injury deaths, by Indigenous status, age, and sex, 2016–17

Males	Indigenous Number	Indigenous %	Non-Indigenous Number	Non-Indigenous %
0-4	2	3.6	3	0.5
5-14	2	3.6	13	2.2
15–24	17	30.9	134	22.6
25–44	21	38.2	219	33.1
45–64	11	20.0	136	23.0
65+	2	3.6	110	18.6
Total	55	100.0	592	100.0

Females	Indigenous Number	Indigenous %	Non-Indigenous Number	Non-Indigenous %
0–4	4	19.0	2	1.0
5–14	0	0.0	5	2.5
15–24	5	23.8	36	18.3
25–44	8	38.1	50	25.4
45–64	4	19.0	42	21.3
65+	0	0.0	62	31.5
Total	21	100.0	197	100.0

Note: Includes data for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory (see Box 1.2).
Source: AIHW NMD.