One person died almost every day on average, with 354 lives lost on the state's roads in 2018.

That was down from 389 in 2017 but included 67 pedestrians compared with 54 the previous year.

The overall road toll was "heartening" but drivers shouldn't become complacent, Roads Minister Melinda Pavey told reporters on Wednesday.

"If we make the roads better and our drivers are safer on our roads then we're going to have a result every year like this one where we have the road toll dropping," the Nationals minister said.

The reduction of 35 was the biggest year-on-year drop in NSW since 2013 and is the second lowest road toll on record per 100,000 people, Ms Pavey said.

There was also a significant reduction in fatalities over the holiday period with just seven deaths between December 21 and New Year's Day. This compared with 28 deaths in the same period in 2017/18.

Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy says the challenge for 2019 is to continue the downward trend.

"There are still too many lives lost in NSW, there are still too many lives lost across Australia, but we're (heading) in the right direction - people are listening," Mr Corboy said.

Road toll figures for other states were released on Tuesday.

In Victoria, road deaths dropped significantly to 214 in 2018. That was 45 fewer than in 2017 and down 29 from the previous record low of 243 in 2013.

In South Australia, the toll fell to just 80, down from 100 and six fewer than the previous record low of 86 in 2016.

Road deaths fell from 34 to 33 in Tasmania and a slight dip was also expected in Western Australia based on preliminary figures with 158 deaths by December 30.

Queensland posted its third lowest toll with 246 lives lost which was one lower than the previous year.

Figures published so far show 50 people died in the Northern Territory and nine in the ACT in 2018.

Australian Associated Press