But the nation's transport-shaping policy advisor Austroads, which took over the road quality data-gathering role two years ago, has urged patience in publishing data it says is neither nationally consistent nor up to date.

Access to accurate, timely road safety data, collected in the same way and comparable across states and territories, has been a consistent problem in determining where to target the big issues.

Australian Automobile Association chief executive Michael Bradley says the secret road ratings, which are captured via video by a specially equipped and instrumented vehicle driven over thousands of kilometres, were being deliberately suppressed by dederal Transport Minister Catherine King.

"Minister King declined to act on the recommendation [to release the findings], saying road safety ratings were the responsibility of states and territories," Mr Bradley said.

The Australian road quality measuring program, known as AusRAP (Australian Road Assessment Program) is part of an international UK-based charitable effort across 128 countries known as iRAP which has the lofty goal of a "world free of high-risk roads".

Road quality is directly linked to road safety outcomes but without a consistent measurement system and application - objective ways of determining how unsafe it is for the volume of traffic carried - it means very little.

Australia has more than 877,600km of road networks, most of which are maintained by cash-strapped local governments.

There is evidence suggesting motorists are being massively short-changed on road infrastructure with $9.5 billion spent from a total of $14 billion collected from fuel excise, well short of that promised in the October budget last year.

READ MORE:

The ACT has, like all states and territories, committed to the so-called Vision Zero (zero deaths and serious injuries by 2050) and promotes a "shared responsibility" between the road users and the road network.

The AAA supports the establishment of an easy-to-understand star rating for Australia's roads, with one star being the most unsafe, and five stars the best.

After taking over the previous ad-hoc arrangement, Austroads is now seeking a commitment for at least 80 per cent of vehicles to travel on three-star or better roads.

In March last year, a guideline was signed off tying road safety funding programs to the provision of road quality data however, the federal government intervened to prevent that occurring.

Austroads road safety and design manager Michael Neuwesteeg says there was the goodwill to produce the data, but pleaded for more time.

"Like many of these road safety programs elements, we are eight states and territories which all do things a bit differently and it takes time to ensure this data is consistent and comparable," he said.

"The biggest risk here is to miss a strong and tangible outcome because all the pieces to the program don't align. We all want this to work."

This is similar to the robust debate around inconsistent road trauma data, which is collated and measured differently all across the country. Almost 20 years ago in May 2004, a House of Representatives road safety committee published a report asking for "the national collection of consistent and comprehensive road accident data".

It still hasn't happened.

The AAA says the greatest risk is the bureaucratic wheels turning too slowly, and more and more people dying on the roads as a result. Road safety is a multi-billion dollar industry, and yet the rate of road deaths per 100,000 people is 5.4 per cent higher now than last year.

National road deaths in July and August were higher than either of those same months over the past five years, with rural areas of NSW and Queensland heavily exposed to death and injury.

"Despite billions of dollars spent every year, more people are dying on our roads," Mr Bradley said.

"The data we need to understand Australia's transport safety problems exists, it's just not being reported."