Rural people more likely to die on roads

Stephanie Gardiner | December 23, 2022

Rural people are more likely to suffer serious head injuries in car crashes due to dangerous driving and poor road conditions, according to a “scary” new study.

A global analysis of 2.5 million head trauma patients found rural people were 30 per cent more likely to suffer serious injuries, compared to those in urban areas.

The review, by Queensland’s James Cook University, also found that rural patients were half as likely to recover well in hospital, with injuries often ending in death or disability.

Harm to children and adolescents was also significantly higher, said medicine honours student Julia Chequer De Souza.

“That is definitely very scary,” she said.

“Previous studies had shown that adolescents are more likely to take risks, and that can come with consequences.”

The researchers said both behaviour, like unsafe driving and not wearing a seatbelt, and environment, like poor roads and unpredictable weather, likely predispose rural people to serious transport accidents.

Dr Hayley Letson, a trauma researcher, said rural crash victims may have poor outcomes at hospital due to long travel times and lack of specialist care.

“The distances involved to obtain treatment can mean the difference between making it out of hospital well, or unfortunately not making it out of hospital, or ending up with a severe disability,” Dr Letson said.

A NSW parliamentary inquiry into rural road safety this month found the default 100km/h speed limit on many country roads may be too high, given their poor condition.

The committee’s final report said two-thirds of all fatalities occur in country areas, and 60 per cent of those happen on roads where the speed limit is 100km/h or higher.

The vast majority of deaths on country roads involve local residents, and fatigue is often a factor, the report said.

The inquiry recommended the construction of more overtaking lanes and rest stops, and better public education campaigns about driving to the road conditions.

“It is evident that more work is needed to improve safety on our regional roads,” committee chair Lou Amato said.

The James Cook University research will go on to investigate which North Queensland populations are most at risk of serious head trauma in crashes. 

Ms Chequer De Souza said the initial findings were critical for infrastructure planning and health promotion.

“Traumatic brain injury is considered a ‘silent epidemic’, because the effects can be lifelong.”