There were 1258 deaths on the nation’s roads in 2023 – a 6.6 percent jump on the previous year and the third year in a row the figure has gone up.

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The road toll for 2024 reached 863 by the end of August, according to the most recent federal government data.

About 40,000 people are seriously injured in crashes annually.

The federal government, states and territories have signed a pledge aiming to halve the road toll and reduce serious injuries by 30 percent by 2030.

“It is absolutely a crisis,” Ingrid Johnston, CEO of the Australasian College of Road Safety, said of the carnage.

“If we don’t do something differently, then instead of halving fatalities by 2030 we will have increased them.”

Dr Johnston is among 600 road safety professionals and academics attending the multi-day 2024 Australasian Road Safety Conference in Hobart.

“(Australia) used to be one of the world’s leaders and in recent years we have slipped down the rankings,” she said.

“As other countries have been reducing their fatalities, ours have been increasing.”

Dr Johnston urged policy and law makers to consider reducing speed limits as well as tightening safety regulations for new and imported cars.

“In a built up area, if you have vehicles mixing with pedestrians and cyclists then the vehicles need to be doing only 30km/h,” she said.

“We have to make the brave decisions and we have to turn this around. For some reason we accept people die on the roads.”

In August, more than 100 road safety researchers and academics signed an open letter calling on state and territory governments to lower speed limits.

They said Wales reported a 32 percent reduction in deaths on roads where it cut the speed limit from 48km/h to 32km/h.

By Ethan JAMES, AAP