Road deaths in the Republic were highest for almost a decade in 2023, while the number of pedestrians killed after being hit by drivers remained high again.
New data released by the Road Safety Authority showed a total of 184 people died in 173 fatal collisions in 2023 compared to 155 deaths in 149 collisions in 2022. This represents an increase of 29 deaths or a 19 per cent rise in road deaths compared to last year and is the highest level since 2014, when 192 people were killed.
Minister for State at the Department of Transport, Jack Chambers TD, said the deaths represented a “heart-breaking and devastating” year for the families of those who had lost their lives.
Chair of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), Liz O’Donnell, said the last year had been “difficult” adding “we must do more” in the Republic to reverse increasing fatalities.
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Gardaí are concerned at the trends over the last five to six years.
For example, fatalities on the roads had continued to fall over two decades before reaching a record low of 136 in 2018. However, that downward trend has reversed, with fatalities now having increased by more than a third in the last five years.
More than one third, 69, of last year’s road deaths were drivers while 44 were pedestrians and 34 passengers in vehicles. A further 26 were motorcyclists while eight cyclists and three e-scooter users were killed.
The number of pedestrians killed increased by 12, the biggest increase of any road user type. There were 16 deaths on the roads of Tipperary, more than any other county, followed by Cork and Dublin, where 15 deaths occurred, while there were 13 fatalities in Galway and 12 in Mayo.
Almost half of the fatalities happened between 8pm and 8am, compared with 35 per cent in 2022, while almost half (46 per cent) of the fatalities occurred between Friday and Sunday.
Over one quarter of fatalities were aged between 16 and 25 years, compared with 16 per cent in 2022.
There were 34 passenger fatalities in 2023, representing 18 per cent of the total road deaths that occurred in 2023.
Chief Supt Jane Humphries of Garda National Roads Policing Bureau said the families and loved ones of those who died on the roads in 2023 had been “left devastated”.
“Gardaí nationwide have remained focused on detecting those committing the offences known and proven to be leading factors in serious injury and fatal road traffic collisions,” she said.
Gardaí had conducted over 87,700 checkpoints and 7,707 people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant. About 200,000 speeding offences were detected, over 5,300 people were fined for not wearing a seatbelt and more than 18,800 motorists were fined for using their mobile phone.
Mr Chambers said his “thoughts are with all those impacted as we head into a New Year”. He believed new legislation, the Road Traffic Bill, would enhance road safety when it was enacted. That legislation includes the introduction of higher penalty points to be issued for offences during Bank Holiday weekends and stricter measures around drug testing.
However, The Irish Times revealed recently levels of Garda enforcement on the roads had reduced this year, with the number of drivers tested for drink driving half the level performed in 2019.
Ms O’Donnell said she and the RSA believed a new national system of roadside cameras would greatly aid detection of road traffic offences and help to reduce the driving that causes deaths.
“People are carrying huge grief with them; a grief that doesn’t go away and a void that cannot be filled in their lives. Any one life lost is one too many,” she said.
