Road death rate increases by 8 in January

Twenty eight people have died on the State's roads so far this year, according to Garda statistics.

The figure represents and increase of eight on the total on this day last year. Six of the fatalities have occurred in the last week.

Earlier today a man in his late seventies died in a crash in Co Tipperary. The crash between the man's car and an articulated lorry happened at 9.30 a.m. at Barnlough, Bansha. Nobody else was injured. The dead man has not been named.

Separate Census Statisics released today show there were 10.4 road accident fatalities per 100,000 population in the Republic in 2002 compared to 8.8 in Northern Ireland.