Summary

This publication provides a summary of injury, both fatal and non-fatal, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria due to land transport accidents. Fatal injury is reported over the four-year period from 2003–04 to 2006–07, while nonfatal injury is reported over the five-year period from 2003–04 to 2007–08.

All transport injury

Transport-related injury was the second leading cause of fatal injury (26%) and the fourth leading cause of serious injury (9%) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Fifty-six per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people fatally injured and 42% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people seriously injured in a transport accident were occupants of a car.

Land transport injury

Land transport accidents accounted for 20% of fatal injury cases and 8% of all injury hospitalisations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Based on aged-standardised rates, there were 2.7 times more fatalities and 20% more serious injury cases among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared to other Australians.

The fatal injury rate among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander car occupants was 2.9 times that of other Australian car occupants, while the fatal injury rate among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pedestrians was 5.5 times that of other Australian pedestrians. The equivalent values for serious injury were 1.6 and 2.5 times.

A markedly higher proportion of car passengers relative to car drivers were fatally or seriously injured among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, than when compared to other Australians.

In general, rates of fatal and serious injury increased according to remoteness of the person’s usual residence from an urban centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 70% of those fatally injured and 60% of those seriously injured resided in outer regional, remote or very remote areas. By contrast, close to four-fifths of other Australians fatally and seriously injured resided in major cities or inner regional areas.

Fatal injury rates for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males and females did not change significantly over the period of interest, while for other Australian males and females there were modest decreases in rates.

Serious injury rates for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Australian males rose significantly over the period of interest, with most of this rise being attributable to motorcyclists. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females and other Australian females there was no significant change in rates.