January 8th, 2025282 lives lost on Victorian roads in 2024

Road safety will remain a key priority for Victoria Police throughout 2025 in the wake of a devastating year on the state’s roads.

There were 282 lives lost in 2024 compared with 295 in 2023, Victoria Police have reported.

While the number of lives lost is slightly below 2023, concerningly there has been an overall increase in the number of fatal collisions.

There has been a 6 per cent rise in single fatal collisions, with 256 in 2024 compared with 241 in 2023.

However, there was a significant decrease in the number of multiple fatality collisions, with 13 double fatalities in 2024 compared with 2023 which saw 14 double fatalities, four quadruple fatalities and two quintuple fatalities.

Vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists and e-scooter riders made up 45 per cent of all lives lost on Victorian roads in 2024.

There were 66 motorcyclists killed compared with 53 in 2023.

Pedestrians accounted for 47 deaths compared with 44 in the previous year.

Driver fatalities made up 45 per cent of all lives during 2024, with 126 driver deaths compared with 128 in 2023.

There were 133 lives lost on metropolitan roads, up from 123 in 2023. A total 149 lives were lost on regional roads, down from 172 in 2023.

November was the deadliest month on Victoria’s roads with 35 lives lost during the month.

Police have identified single acts of non-compliance or people making basic driving errors contributed to more than half of fatalities in 2024.

These are behaviours such as low-range speeding, lower-level drink driving, failing to obey road signs and distraction, like using a mobile phone while driving.

More than 20 people killed in vehicle collisions weren’t wearing a seatbelt.

Extreme behaviours such as driving without a licence, travelling at extreme speeds, high-range drink driving, illicit drug driving or often a combination of these behaviours contributed to approximately a quarter of fatal collisions in 2024.

Police are determined to drive down road trauma in 2025 and are urging all road users to consider their actions and behaviours when getting behind the wheel.

Victoria Police will continue to work closely with its road safety partners to reduce the number of fatal and serious injury collisions.

Road policing enforcement will continue to be a priority, with a number of operations to be conducted throughout the year both during high-risk periods but also at random, in-line with an ‘anywhere, any time’ deterrent approach.

For more information and tips for staying safe on the roads, visit the Road Safety page on the Victoria Police website – https://www.police.vic.gov.au/road-safety