The death toll on the roads has reached 47 so far this year, an increase of 10 over the same period last year.
The figures were released after five people lost their lives in road accidents over the weekend and another two people died yesterday.
The increase in road death statistics has followed a year in which the number of road deaths fell to 342.
This figure has been falling steadily annually and was the lowest since the early 1960s.
The decrease in deaths last year has been partly attributed to the introduction of penalty points for driving offences. For the first 14 months of the system up to last month, 93,364 drivers received points. Four drivers had ten points, two short of automatic disqualification within a three-month period.
Mr Paul Costello, chief executive of the National Safety Council, said the last few days had been particularly bad for road fatalities.
There had also been a number of multiple fatalities from single crashes this year and that altered the figures, he said.
"The figures to date this year don't give rise for optimism. They do give rise to a warning for all road users to take more care. We are concerned obviously and we appeal to drivers to examine their behaviour on the roads," Mr Costello said.
However, he said a month and a half was too short a time to draw major conclusions about trends. For instance, there were no recorded deaths in the first week in February so the figures fluctuated on a weekly basis.
The figures had been positive over the last year with the number of fatalities and serious injuries falling. Drivers were changing their attitudes and behaviour. The penalty points system did help in the final analysis, Mr Costello said.
A spokesman for the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said if a further decrease in road deaths was to be achieved for this year everybody involved would have to redouble their efforts.
There were a number of new measures being introduced during the year which would have a further impact on road safety, he said.
Within the next few months, penalty points would be introduced for dangerous over-taking with two points for an on-the-spot fine or five points on court conviction.
Careless driving would also be included with two points for a direct prosecution or five on court conviction, he said.
The spokesman said new legislation would be introduced, which should be law by mid-year, to introduce penalty points for use of mobile phones. This would carry a fine of one point and three points on court conviction.
Garda random testing for drink driving would also be introduced later this year. At present, testing was restricted to when there was a suspected offence or a traffic accident, he said.
Increasing the number of speed cameras throughout the State would be another measure and the Minister also hoped to introduce reform of the provisional licence system, he said.