STORY: Australian road deaths hit 7-year high 
SHOOTING TIME: Dec. 18, 2024   
DATELINE: Dec. 19, 2024
LENGTH: 00:00:43
LOCATION: Canberra
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of traffic in Australia

STORYLINE:

Australia's road death toll hit its highest level in seven years in November, with no state or territory on track to meet reduction targets.

November saw 129 road deaths nationwide, according to a report published Tuesday by Australia's Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE).

It was the deadliest month on Australian roads since December 2017, when 130 people were killed. BITRE's report said that last month's figure was 30.3 percent higher than the November average over the previous five years.

1,318 deaths were tallied on Australian roads in the 12-month period ending in November. That's an increase of 6.1 percent from the preceding 12 months.

Australia's National Road Safety Strategy aims for a 50 percent reduction in road deaths and a 30 percent reduction in serious injuries, as compared to a 2018-2020 baseline. The new BITRE report found that no state or territory is on track to meet this goal.

South Australia was the only jurisdiction with a lower death toll in the 12-month period concluding in November 2024 than in the preceding one-year time span.

Of the 1,318 people who died on Australian roads in the 12 months ending in November 2024, 600 were drivers, 284 were motorcyclists, 212 were passengers in a vehicle, and 167 were pedestrians.

People aged 40 to 64 accounted for 31 percent of all deaths -- the most of any age group.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Canberra.
(XHTV)