The cost of road trauma in rural NSW has been laid bare with new statistics revealing injuries and deaths in Greater Hume Shire cost taxpayers almost five times the amount per person than in the Albury council area.
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The new data released by the NRMA is shining a light on the disparity between the condition of rural and metropolitan roads and the "indisputable link" between road quality and safety.
The Rate Your Road report identified the per capita cost of deaths and injuries over a five year period, between 2014 and 2018, across NSW.
In the Greater Hume Shire, the cost of trauma per person over that time period was $13,589.
This is in stark contrast to the $2725 cost per person in the same five-year period in Albury - almost five times less.
While Albury still falls under the "regional" banner, the difference in cost is as evident in the regions as it is in the bigger cities, including Sydney.
"The increase in cost between metropolitan and rural road trauma incidents is really quite staggering," NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said.
"Crashes in Upper Lachlan cost nearly double the average per capita as they do in metropolitan Sydney," he said.
"It's really a wake-up call that investment in road safety infrastructure for the regions should not be an afterthought by government."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Those numbers for the Albury local government area equate to four road deaths, 127 serious injuries, 217 moderate injuries and 79 minor injuries in that time.
For the Greater Hume Shire, there were 10 deaths, 75 serious injuries, 81 moderate injuries and 29 minor injuries.
Mr Khoury said the report could help governments identify areas needed for additional road funding.
"There's no way to quantify the human cost of road accidents, but calculating the cost to taxpayers is one way to help identify the need for more funding to improve road conditions and road safety," he said.
"Despite record breaking levels of road infrastructure investment there is still a lot more to do in the regions.
"We want the focus to be on improving road conditions and safety and that's really what we're hearing from motorists through this survey.
"It's clear from these results that poor road conditions aren't isolated to any one region."
Included in the report, was a list of local streets identified to be in bad condition across the state.
Find the report about your roads
- Western Sydney and Blue Mountains
- Sydney's metro north, eastern suburbs and inner west
- Sydney's metro south, Illawarra and South Coast
- Sydney's north, Central Coast and the Hunter
- ACT, southern regional and rural NSW
- Northern regional and rural NSW, includes Northern Tablelands, North Coast and Far North West NSW