Western Australia is on track for one of its deadliest years on record in more than a decade, with RAC reporting 184 fatalities on state roads in 2025 and the 2026 toll already running ahead of that pace. The trend is unfolding against the backdrop of National Road Safety Week, held May 17 to 24, and raises questions that extend well beyond public safety – into how the insurance sector prices, reserves, and manages motor risk in the state.
When road deaths climb in a given jurisdiction, the consequences ripple through several insurance product lines. Motor vehicle damage claims, CTP scheme liabilities, life insurance payouts, and income protection claims can all be affected. In WA, those pressures are compounded by the scale of regional road networks and the distances drivers regularly cover, factors that have long added complexity to how insurers assess risk in the state.
RAC, which provides both insurance products and road safety advocacy in Western Australia, has raised the alarm on the current fatality rate. “So far this year we are on track to record one of our worst levels of road deaths in more than a decade. The impact of road trauma on individuals, families, friends, and communities is far reaching, and we need to do all we can to make our roads safer for everyone,” said Rhys Heron, RAC’s head of communications.
From an insurance standpoint, a sustained rise in fatal and serious injury crashes places upward pressure on loss ratios. High-severity claims – those involving fatalities or permanent injury – carry the largest individual payouts and the longest tail. If WA’s fatality trajectory holds through 2026, motor and personal lines insurers with material exposure in the state will need to factor this into their reserving assumptions and, potentially, future pricing decisions. Brokers working with commercial clients that operate vehicle fleets or employ mobile workforces face a related challenge. The WA data strengthens the rationale for recommending structured driver risk programs, not only as a duty of care measure but as a consideration that underwriters may increasingly weigh when assessing fleet risks.
The WA Road Safety Commission has released figures showing that targeted enforcement is producing measurable changes in driver behaviour, with potential consequences for claim outcomes. Since safety cameras capable of detecting seatbelt non-use were deployed in February 2025, recorded offences have declined by 84%. That behavioural shift has started to register in fatality statistics: unbelted occupant deaths fell 9.2% in 2025 relative to prior years. The baseline context makes this significant – over the 10 years to 2024, people not wearing a seatbelt accounted for an average of 23% of all motor vehicle occupant deaths in WA.
Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner said the outcome reflects the combined effect of awareness campaigns and camera-based enforcement. “The science on seatbelt safety was settled in the 60s – and now new evidence is giving us a modern insight on the irrefutable fact that seatbelts save lives. What we’re seeing is a powerful behaviour shift. Very few people were ever not wearing a seatbelt – but even small changes matter. It shows how a simple, everyday decision – something that takes a second – can have a major impact on survival,” Warner said. He also noted the risk that remains. “It also highlights a hard truth: the small number of people still not wearing a seatbelt are taking a huge risk,” he said. A sustained reduction in seatbelt non-compliance is relevant to how they model injury severity in motor claims. If the proportion of unbelted occupants in crashes continues to fall, that may dampen the severity – though not necessarily the frequency – of the most serious injury claims over time.
During National Road Safety Week, the WA government redeployed two road safety campaigns developed alongside WA Police, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, and St John WA. Seatbelts Save Lives, which dates to 2024, uses footage and accounts from emergency responders to illustrate what happens in crashes where occupants are unrestrained. Lights, Sirens, Action! focuses on the state’s Slow Down, Move Over legislation – referred to as SLOMO – which governs how drivers must respond when approaching stationary emergency vehicles, roadside assistance operators, and tow trucks. Both campaigns were distributed from May 17 across television, streaming services, social media, and YouTube.
These campaigns target a subset of a wider group of crash contributors. According to a recent Youi report on crash types in Australia, the behaviours most linked to fatal and serious injury crashes are speeding, drink or drug driving, seatbelt non-use, fatigue, and driver distraction. The same report recorded 1,340 road deaths nationally in the 12 months to July 2025 and identified single-vehicle collisions as the crash type most frequently resulting in fatalities in the 12 months to September 2025. These categories map directly onto the variables used in underwriting and claims triage. Changes in their prevalence – driven by enforcement, legislation, or public awareness – affect both the frequency and severity sides of the claims equation.
National Road Safety Week is coordinated annually by the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group. This year, it arrives at a point where WA’s overall fatality numbers are deteriorating even as specific interventions – particularly around seatbelt enforcement – are showing results. That divergence is worth attention for insurance professionals reviewing their WA motor portfolios. The overall trend points to elevated risk, while the seatbelt enforcement data suggests that targeted measures can shift outcomes within a relatively short timeframe. Heron said the responsibility for safer roads is shared across all road users. “We all share a responsibility to make our roads safe, whether we’re driving, riding, or walking," Heron said.
