The economic, medical and social costs of road traffic crashes in rural north Queensland: a 5 year multi-phase study

[Extract] People living in rural and remote regions of Australia are significantly over-represented in road transport-related fatality and injury figures. The costs of these events are also significantly higher than for similar injuries in urban communities. In Queensland in the year 2000, for example, the risk of dying (per capita) in a rural versus urban crash was 4.2 times higher, with costs 2–3 times higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Additionally, Indigenous Australians are highly over-represented in road crash statistics. Despite rural populations being over-represented in road transport-related crashes both nationally and internationally, very few road safety policies and interventions have targeted rural and remote populations and problems. “The rural and remote road safety problem has received minimal attention in comparison to the efforts directed at reducing crashes in urban areas” primarily due to population distribution. Policy makers stand to reap bigger returns for dollars invested in urban areas, while the cost of conducting research in rural areas is substantially higher. Likewise, little research has focused on the social, economic and medical costs of non-urban crashes.