The number of injuries sustained in Irish road crashes is almost twice the level reported by An Garda Síochána when hospital data is taken into account, according to research undertaken by the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
It found that in 2014-2021 there were 15,677 hospitalised casualties compared with 8,977 serious injuries recorded by the Garda.
The data highlighted a significant discrepancy in the number of cyclist injuries, in particular, at 2.4 times the rate of garda reporting.
The Irish discrepancy is in common with other EU countries, in part because police definitions are broad and not based on medical assessment.
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As part of a European drive to harmonise data based on medial assessment, the RSA conducted a sample analysis in conjunction with the HSE and Trinity College Dublin.
Some of it includes road injuries not reported to gardaí, for example crashes involving single cyclists, often due to road conditions or loss of control.
Dr Stefania Costello, a public health analyst at the RSA, presented findings of the study at the authority’s annual conference, which focused on serious injury, a phenomenon that often takes second place to road fatality rates.
A lack of uniformity in definitions and reporting techniques across EU member states makes comparative analysis difficult. The European Commission has requested this be addressed through a process known as MAIS3+, which will include hospital data.
That process is at the “very early stage” in Ireland, according to Dr Costello, who said hospital data has only been analysed for the first time this year. However, in its sample study, the RSA noted the number of “serious hospital” cases, as opposed to general hospitalisations, was 3,422, amounting to 22 per cent of the total.
Its research found that 42 per cent of hospital recorded cases were car users, compared with 26 per cent for cyclists.
In 2020, the number of seriously injured cyclists as documented by gardaí dropped but the number of those hospitalised increased, a stark discrepancy highlighted as evidence for the need to take medical reporting into account.
Serious cyclist injury data under the MAIS3+ system showed 80 per cent were male, and the large majority were aged 25-64.
Most hospital injuries for cyclists (38 per cent) were leg fractures, closely followed by head injuries (27 per cent). Spine and neck injuries combined accounted for 5 per cent of hospital recorded injury.
In the sample years, half of cyclists with serious injuries were admitted for five or more days. The RSA is working on analysis reports for other categories of road user.
Separately, the conference heard some data illustrating a rising number of crashes involving e-scooters in Ireland, where regulations are due to come into place in the coming weeks following European level approval.
Between January 2022 and last September there have been 51 recorded serious injuries and three deaths in Ireland.
During the same period, 12 other road users were injured in a collision involving an e-scooter, one fatally and 11 seriously, according to RSA data.
Dr John Legge, a consultant in emergency medicine at Dublin’s St Vincent’s University Hospital, said there had been an annual increase in presentations at the emergency department in recent years – rising from six in 2018 to 95 in 2022.
Dr Legge said arm injuries were the most common and that the “gold standard” of e-scooter use would see them separated from both traffic and pedestrians, with speed being a key concern.
Minister of State with responsibility for road safety Jack Chambers noted that for every death on Irish roads there were 10 serious injuries, with about 900 to date so far this year.
