Accidents in which speed is a factor accounted for 82 per cent of Irish road fatalities, of which there were a total of 461 last year, a drop of 2 per cent on 1997.
Speed is the most common contributory factor to accidents on Irish roads.
While advances have been made in changing attitudes to drink-driving, speed is "not yet recognised for the killer it is".
Attitudes to alcohol, which is a factor in one-third of all fatal accidents, have changed, but behaviour has not changed to the same degree.
A blood/alcohol level above 80 mg has a dramatic effect on young drivers, while 17-year-olds are significantly affected by alcohol levels well within the legal limit.
Ireland has the third-highest pedestrian death rate in the EU, with the fatality rate doubled in winter compared to summer. A third of pedestrians who are killed show high blood/alcohol levels.
If hit by a car at 20 m.p.h., there is a 5 per cent danger of a pedestrian being killed; at 30 m.p.h. this rises to 55 per cent; and at 40 m.p.h. it rises to 85 per cent.
18/30-year-old men are most likely to feature in Irish road injury statistics.
An increase in fatalities of 20 per cent has to be assumed over the next five years based purely on economic and demographic trends.
Road injuries decreased last year to 12,750, with the number of road accidents in the order of three times this figure. However, the number of injuries per accident is "starkly negative" - the injury rate is more than 25 per cent higher than five years ago.
If all car users wore seat belts, road fatalities and injuries would be 40 per cent less than if none wore seat belts.
At 55 per cent, Irish seat belt wearing rates are far below the EU average - though current rates save up to 40 lives a year.