The cost of road trauma in Victoria is estimated to be more than $2.9 billion per year, while speed-related trauma costs the state around $1 billion per year.
One person is injured every 30 minutes in Victoria.
In Victoria, the fines issued from road safety cameras equate to just eight per cent of the cost of road trauma with $234.9 million* recorded for the 2010–11 financial year.
The cost of injury
The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) reports the average lifetime cost for one person with traumatic brain injury as $2.1 million. The average lifetime cost to the TAC for each person with paraplegia is $1.2 million. Over a lifetime, the average cost for a person with quadriplegia is around $6.4 million.
Brain injury
In Victoria, approximately 90 people suffer severe brain injury in road crashes every year, and approximately 1000 more people suffer less severe brain injuries, many of which result in long-term disabilities. Brain damage affects memory, balance, walking, hand function and speech and many people are never able to return to work.
Spinal injury
Half of all spinal injuries in Australia are caused by road crashes and half of these people end up with quadriplegia, paralysed from the neck down. Of the other half, almost 50 per cent end up with paraplegia, paralysed from the waist down.
* This figure is net of cancellations which occur, for example, when Victoria Police exercises its discretion to issue official warnings in place of infringements.
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