The previous strategy failed to hit its targets, triggering the need for more widespread consultation and new ideas.

And the problem is worsening with July's national road roll climbing to 102, 1.6 per cent higher than the average for July over the previous five years.

For the 12 months ended July 2021, there were 1148 road deaths nationally, an increase of 4.3 per cent over the corresponding period a year before.

The federal government's office of road safety's 2021-30 draft national road safety strategy is aiming for a 50 per cent reduction in road deaths over the decade and a 30 per cent fall in serious injury.

The 2011-2020 national road safety strategy fell well short of its goals with independent reviewers finding that while "small groups in each jurisdiction worked tirelessly to gain safety improvements", the scale of response was "inadequate against the size of the problem".

The government is already hedging its bets on achieving its future goals, stating in its draft that "achieving these targets, particularly for serious injury, will be difficult".

One major obstacle is even determining the extent of the issue and reporting it in a timely manner, as the states and territories record road trauma in a slightly different way, using different timelines.

Submissions to the federal government's joint select committee have been sought across a huge range of stakeholders including health, transport, the vehicle industry, and education.

Committee chair and Nationals MP Darren Chester described the public hearings as "an important first reference point for the committee, and an opportunity to examine the state of play in the road safety sector".

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