Road safety needs you: the power of everyday driving behaviour

Suncorp is urging drivers to assess their driving behaviour and commit to small changes to make roads safer, as the insurer supports the Fatality Free Friday initiative throughout May. 

Fatality Free Friday is an annual campaign led by the Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) that launched in 2007 with Suncorp’s support. This year’s campaign message is “It’s time for change - road safety needs you”.   

Fatality Free Friday has become much more than a day of action; it is a community awareness movement backed by compelling annual research that hopes to shift the needle every year and reduce trauma on the roads. 

ARSF Chair and Founder Russell White said it’s time we stop treating road safety as an afterthought and start making it a daily priority. 

“Road trauma doesn’t just happen - most of the time it’s the direct result of poor choices made behind the wheel, from the passenger seat, on two wheels or even just walking down the street,” he said. 

“But that means we also have the power to create real change, to stop this needless loss of life by choosing road safety and encouraging each other to do the same.” 

Suncorp Executive General Manager CTP Insurance and Advocacy, Michelle Bain, said the keys to road safety and achieving a fatality free Friday are in all Australians’ hands.

“We know that road trauma is preventable. Road safety is a choice we can all make. A responsibility we should all carry when we travel on the road.

The latest ARSF research from 2024 confirmed Australia marked its fourth consecutive year of rising fatalities, with 1,306 lives lost - an increase of 3.8 per cent on the year before.¹

“These findings paint a troubling picture because it tells us that despite the risks, too many Australians are still choosing convenience over safety,” Mr White said. 

Prioritising staying connected over safe driving was a key concern from the new research, with social media, phones and coffee creating dangerous distractions.  

The research showed 70 percent of Australian drivers admit to experiencing some form of distraction while driving.

Additionally, over half (56 per cent) openly admit to breaking road laws, like speeding, which remained the most common offence, with nearly half (47 per cent) of drivers admitting to exceeding the limit. One in three drivers have driven while fatigued. 

Encouragingly, the ARSF research also confirmed the role education and awareness can have on driving positive change.  

Mr White joined a panel event in Brisbane at Suncorp’s Heritage Lanes offices alongside speakers including AAMI Executive Manager Kylie Horton, ARSF Ambassador and Supercars Champion Craig Lowndes, Director of the Harrison Payne Initiative Kent Payne, and former critical incident first responder and road safety advocate Nick Bell. 

The event was part of the 2025 Fatality Free Friday initiative and brought speakers together to share research, insights, lived realities and ideas about how Australians can be safer on the road. 

Mr White spoke about how Fatality Free Friday was about cultural change and changing the narrative about safe driving every day.  

“Almost nine in 10 drivers in the research said road safety messaging inspired them to engage in safer behaviour, and eight in 10 drivers reported that simply being reminded of the road toll makes them think or act more responsibly. 

“This is encouraging; we can shift the needle a little bit every year. Behavioural change is not easy but if the community voice is big enough, we can promote these safer behaviours.” 

As Australia’s largest personal injury insurer, Suncorp understands the trauma that can result from a car crash.  

AAMI Executive Manager Kylie Horton said: “Our CTP teams across Australia see the impact of road trauma every day and we know that many would be avoidable; it is a simple distraction while driving that leads to most injuries.” 

AAMI has proudly partnered with the ARSF since 2007 and supports its road safety advocacy efforts through various research initiatives such as the AAMI Crash Index which highlights crash spots throughout the country and the back-to-school initiative that urges safer driving around schools. AAMI also partners with the Driver Reviver program which promotes safe places for drivers to rest and recharge, ensuring they drive alert and reduce road incidents.

AAMI also promotes safer driving behaviour through the AAMI Driver Rewards program. AAMI Driver Rewards is embedded in the AAMI mobile app and uses telematics, cloud, personalisation, mobile sensors, AI and data to help users ‘keep score’ and improve their driving behaviours and awareness. 

The latest AAMI Crash Index ‘Decade of Driving’ report said that since the app’s launch in 2022, data captured found 39 per cent of drivers gradually improved their safe driving score. 

¹  Australian Government, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts Road Deaths, Annual Road Deaths Database, Accessed February 2025.