Car crash death rates on Irish motorways are below the European average, according to a European road safety group.
However, the study carried out by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) found that motorways in the Republic were not as safe as those in Britain, Switzerland, Denmark or the Netherlands.
The study examined the number of deaths on motorways per billion kilometres travelled in 2006 in 19 countries.
Switzerland was the safest out of the group of states, with 1.41 deaths per billion kilometres travelled. Britain had 1.89 deaths per billion kilometres travelled, with only Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands having fewer.
Hungary was the least safe with 8.84 deaths, while Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Slovenia also featured at the bottom of the list of countries.
Ireland, which has a comparitively small motorway network, was seventh on the list, with 2.39 deaths per billion kilometres travelled.
This is less than the 3.71 EU average and less than the 3.65 average across the 19 countries in the study published yesterday.
Deaths on Irish motorways increased by 11 per cent between 2000 and 2006. However, Ireland's motorway network also expanded in that period, which contributed to the large increase.
According to the RSA's recently published Road Collision Facts for 2006, almost 80 per cent of fatal crashes or crashes resulting in injuries happened on two-way single roads, 6.6 per cent on one-way roads, 4.2 per cent on dual carriageways and only 1.3 per cent occured on motorways.
Motorways are the safest roads by design, although when crashes do happen on them, they tend to be more serious.
In 2006, almost 3,300 people died on the motorway networks in the European Union. The number represents just 8 per cent of the total number of road deaths in the EU and has been going down steadily.
The ETSC report attributes Switzerland's top rating to increased speed checks on motorways in that country.
The number of Swiss drivers caught speeding has more than doubled between 2002 and 2006.
Since 2000, the number of motorway deaths in Switzerland has dropped by 13.4 per cent, well ahead of the European average drop of 5.5 per cent.
Next Tuesday, February 26th, the European Parliament's Transport Committee will vote on a proposed directive that would standardise safety measures for roads across the EU.
The Directive would require road builders and managers to take road safety into account in all stages of road planning and operation.
It would also introduce safety inspections of existing roads that would lead to remedial action at black spots.
