‘Annoying’ car safety tech could prevent nearly 8000 Australian road casualties a year

Nearly 8000 injuries and deaths on Australian roads could be prevented each year if drivers didn’t switch off ‘annoying’ or ‘untrustworthy’ driver assistance systems, according to new research.

The study by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Insurance Australia Group (IAG), using surveys, collision and driver data, found road trauma is increasing despite advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) now being widespread in new passenger vehicles.

The IAG Driving Safer Outcomes Report also concluded such ADAS features proved effective in reducing injuries and deaths in road collisions, but 60 per cent of Australian drivers regularly switch off features they find annoying, intrusive or untrustworthy.

It follows a survey of 2007 drivers by insurance company AAMI in 2025, in which almost one in five motorists admitted to turning ADAS off in their vehicle, despite 59 per cent agreeing the tech improved road safety.

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“In a modernising vehicle fleet with driver-assist safety features as standard, we would expect to see a positive correlation in reduced accident and casualty rates,” the head of the IAG Research Centre, Shawn Ticehurst, said in a statement.

“But that's not happening, and it needs to change if we want to see fewer accidents.”

In the 12 months to July 31, 2026, the national road toll increased 0.9 per cent to 1326 people, according to the National Road Safety Data Hub .

This followed Australia’s 2025 road toll reaching 1323 people compared with 1097 in 2020, with the number of road deaths per 100,000 people climbing to 4.8 compared with 4.3 five years earlier.

The number of casualties on our roads could be lowered simply by drivers leaving such systems on, Mr Ticehurst added.

“We believe full uptake of driver-assist systems in Australia has the potential to prevent 20 per cent of road casualties each year.”

This would equate to a reduction of 7850 casualties from the current 40,000 annually, according to the report.

It would also support the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 , which has a goal of reducing the number of serious injuries to 29,000 by the end of this decade, and lowering the number of deaths per 100,000 people to below 2.0, less than half the current 4.8.

The strategy also aims to halve the 2018-20 three-year average road toll of 1142 to 571 over the same period.