With a fatality rate of 21.7 deaths per 100,000 residents the Darling Downs holds an unwanted record of being the most dangerous location for driving in Australia.

The Downs holds this record with the Maranoa, New England and North West NSW.

As a comparison, inner city south Melbourne is the safest place to drive with 0.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

Data from Tyre Geek shows Australians aged 80 to 89 have the highest likelihood of dying in a road accident with 9.2 deaths per 100,000 people.

Males made up 75.9 per cent of road fatalities where the gender of the victim was known in 2023.

Over one third (33.9 per cent) of fatalities occur at speed limits of 60 km/h or below.

A very non-surprising statistic showed that while travelling only 1 per cent of all passenger vehicle kilometres, motorcycle riders and passengers make up 20 per cent of all fatalities.

The weekend is the most dangerous part of the week for road fatalities, with 37 per cent of these occurring, while Monday is the safest day of the week, with just 12 per cent of fatalities occurring on this day.

From 3 to 4pm is the most dangerous time of day, with 6.3 per cent of fatalities occurring in this hour.

Bare statistics can be misleading but nevertheless the statistics are sobering reading for Darling Downs road users.

Safe driving.