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The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has said the Republic of Ireland was now regarded as a world leader in road safety though deaths on the roads, including cycling fatalities, increased this year.
To date this year there have been 11 cycling fatalities on the roads of the Republic, up from eight in 2019.
Overall, the number of road users and pedestrians killed on the roads this year, at 144 to Christmas Eve, was 11 higher than last year.
While cyclist deaths and overall deaths on the roads increased this year, the RSA said deaths remained near historic lows since records began in the Republic.
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Chair of the RSA, Liz O’Donnell, said in a presentation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communication Networks that the number of deaths on Irish roads has fallen from 458 in 1998 to 140 in 2019.
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“Ireland’s safest year on record was in 2018, with 139 deaths recorded,” she said. “In 1998, Ireland had 124 deaths per million of population.
"This has reduced to 28 deaths per million in 2019. This represents a 77 per cent reduction in deaths per million over this time.
“Ireland is now a world leader in road safety, ranked the second safest European Union member state in 2019, in terms of road mortality surpassed only by Sweden. Globally Ireland is ranked fourth safest country in the world.
“At an EU level
Ireland is participating in a road safety exchange where the RSA is mentoring
Portugal and Romania on how they can improve their road safety record.”
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