Australia had a horror month for road deaths in May with fatalities almost 37% higher than the five-year average, part of a long-term trend that mirrors mass immigration-fuelled population growth, newly released statistics show.
The National Road Safety Data Hub which collects data from each state and territory and collated in a national database, confirmed a rise in road deaths over the 12 months to May this year amid an overall increase in fatalities over the last five years.
In the year to May this year, Australia saw a total of 1,337 deaths on its roads, a rise of almost 5% on the year to May 2024, and when adjusted for population growth road deaths per 100,000 people increased 3% over the same time period.
During May 2025 alone, there were 127 road fatalities, an astonishing 36.9% higher than the May average for the previous five years.
On a state level South Australia and Northern Territory were the only jurisdictions to note a decline in road deaths over the previous year, while in the 12 months to May, road deaths rose 12% in Western Australia where this year’s toll is at a decade-high, 28% in the ACT, and 43% in Tasmania.
These figures further confirm a longer-term trend of rising road carnage across the country.
In July 2020, Australia recorded just 96 road deaths amid an annual average of 92 deaths each month. This latest data, however, shows 127 road deaths this May and an annual monthly average that has risen by nearly 20 to 111 deaths each month.
Annually, this equates to a yearly rise in road deaths of more than 200, with our annual fatality figures increasing from 1,102 in 2020 to 1,337 as of May this year.
This rise in road deaths has coincided with an explosion in our population, overwhelmingly driven by mass immigration. Over the last five years Australia’s population has ballooned by more than 2 million people, growing from 25,743,790 in 2020 to a currently estimated 27,829,520 people.
Almost all of this has come from immigration, with net overseas migration accounting for 83% of population growth last year, and Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show an estimated net migration intake of 1,421,900 people between 2022 and the end of 2024.
Most of this migration has flowed to the two most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria – with this occurrence coinciding with a rise in road deaths in each of these states.
“So far in 2025, the greatest number of deaths have occurred in New South Wales with 154 (13.2% increase), followed by Victoria with 133 deaths (12.7% increase),” The National Road Safety Data Hub wrote.
These increases come amid an overall sense of chaos now seen on the country’s roads.
Trucking industry insiders are warning of significant risks on Australian roads, often due to the behaviour of foreign – mainly Indian – truck drivers, and major cities are struggling to stop food delivery drivers illegally entering toll roads.
Many of these incidents involve intrusions into the city’s main underground tunnels, like the Burnley or Domain tunnels, and network operator Transurban’s head of safety, Liz Waller, told The Age that most incidents involved food-delivery riders “who appeared to be led astray by their delivery or navigation apps”.
“Even though there are signs saying cyclists are banned, they just end up in there,” Ms Waller said.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine also noted that “food delivery companies put riders under extraordinary time pressure” and that it is unsurprising that these incidents are occurring across the country as it is a “fact that many riders are visa holders unfamiliar with local roads”.
Header image: A crash that claimed the life of an Indian truck driver near Perth in June (7 News).
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