Ireland ranked seventh in Europe for numbers of road deaths per million population, according to European Transport Safety Council data from 2024.
However, progress in reducing road deaths “has been slower than the EU average”, said Maria Meinero, policy and data analyst with the ETSC.
Ireland’s high point was in 2018, when the country ranked second in Europe for its relatively low levels of road deaths. Figures rose from 134 road deaths in 2018 to 179 in 2023 after the pandemic. There were 175 road deaths in 2024.
The Road Safety Authority has identified a notable increase in young people’s deaths; those aged 16 to 25 accounted for 27 per cent of all road deaths in 2023 and 2024.
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Dudley Curtis, communications manager at ETSC, said: “The rise in road deaths in Ireland over the past five years is alarming. But this trend can and must be reversed.”
The 27 EU countries agreed to cut the number of road deaths in half by 2030 from 2019 baseline figures, as part of its Vision Zero strategy. In Ireland, the goal is to have no more than 72 people dying on the roads by 2030 and no fatalities at all by 2050.
Already in the first six months of 2025, 81 people have died on Irish roads.
On Wednesday the July 16th, the Department of Transport published its second action plan to achieve safer roads between 2025 and 2027. Priority areas include improvements to sustainable transport infrastructure and interventions in high-risk areas.
Speed limits and alcohol interlocks for convicted drink drivers have proven to reduce deaths on the road in other places in Europe, says Curtis. “Ireland should do the same – without hesitation.”
Norway was the top ranking country in 2024, with 16 road deaths per million people, and Sweden was ranked second with 20 deaths per million people. The region’s average stands at 45 deaths per million inhabitants in 2024 and is not on target to reach a 50 per cent reduction by 2030.
“We must strive to achieve greater progress, to emulate what has been achieved in Norway – a mark of what is possible to achieve”, says Michael Rowland, director of research, standards and assurance at the RSA.
Rowland acknowledged “a substantial growth in our population, as well as increases in the number of registered vehicles, vehicles kilometres travelled and in the number of licensed drivers using our roads” have increased the risks with driving in Ireland.
He also points to “persistent levels of engagement in dangerous behaviours on our roads among motorists”, such as speeding, drunk driving and mobile phone use causing distraction, as the causes of more collisions and fatalities.
