Australians can now check the safety ranking of even more roads after several state governments released data for the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) Dashboard. The release of previously ‘secret’ road safety ratings will provide a better understanding of roads and enable more effective allocation of funding, according to the Australian Automobile Association (AAA).
State governments in Victoria, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) released their previously undisclosed road safety ratings on September 22, 2025.
The safety ratings rank each road on risk, with a single star for the most dangerous roads and five stars for the safest. Each additional star halves the risk of death or serious injury.
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“Now that this critical data is being made public, Australians can compare which roads attract government funding with independent data about our most dangerous roads and highways,” said AAA managing director Michael Bradley in a statement.
“This is great news for motorists and should lead to decision-making based on evidence, not politics … data transparency will save lives.
“The AAA thanks each of the governments releasing this life-saving data for listening to the views of Australian motorists and safety campaigners.”
The Australian Government last year included a provision in its five-year intergovernmental road funding agreement requiring states to produce more road safety data, something the AAA had been lobbying for for quite some time.
According to the AAA, 1353 people were killed on Australia’s roads in the 12 months to August 31 this year – the deadliest 12-month period since 2010.
Earlier this year, New South Wales became the first state to reveal its road safety ratings after going public with the data in July.
The information can be accessed via AusRAP and is based on the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP), a registered charity whose goal is to eliminate high-risk roads around the world.
Star ratings take into account risk factors such as average daily traffic, speed limit, gradient and curvature, and provisions for pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, among other parameters.
Few roads on the interactive AusRAP dashboard are rated at five stars, with sections of the M7 and new M8 motorways in Sydney rare exceptions.
Of the new data, the ACT has no five-star roads – with its best ratings of four stars for parts of the Kings Highway – while the Northern Territory has several one-star roads, including parts of Amy Johnson Avenue just outside the Darwin CBD.
Perth’s CBD also has multiple one-star roads, while regional areas towards Broome the mining areas of Newman are also shaded black – although the North West Coastal Highway between Geraldton to north of Karratha is rated at 4.3 stars.
A number of great driving roads in Victoria are rated at one star, including Gembrook Road, Healesville-Kinglake Road and Lake Mountain Road.
Rare five-star roads include Melbourne’s CityLink toll road between Brunswick Road towards Pascoe Vale, as well as a stretch of Nicholson Street in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick.
Parts of Collingwood, where earlier this year Yarra City Council introduced 30km/h speed limits after a trial period in 2024, are rated at four stars.
Plenty Road in Bundoora – declared Australia’s worst crash spot by AAMI’s Crash Index late last year – has a two-star rating.
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