A total of 186 people died on Irish roads last year, the lowest number since records began in 1959.
Deaths have also fallen for their sixth consecutive year, according to the Road Safety Authority. Last year was the fourth year in a row where deaths had been a record low. A total of 212 people were killed in 2010, down from 238 the previous year, 279 in 2008 and 338 in 2007. Road deaths have dropped by 50 per cent since the Road Safety Strategy 2007 to 2012 was introduced.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said motorists should be proud of their achievement in reducing road deaths. “Safer motorists mean safer roads. People are alive today as a direct result of better driver behaviour,” he said.
Road Safety Authority chairman Gay Byrne said over 1,000 lives had been saved in the past decade.
“However, one death is one too many and for the 186 families who lost a loved one on the road this year, my words of praise ring hollow,” he added. “Out of respect to those who have died and those who have been left grieving I would ask that you all please use the roads in 2012 with greater care.”
Meanwhile, the first road fatalities of 2012 occurred in Co Cavan and Co Wexford yesterday.
A 22-year-old local man died in a single vehicle crash when his car hit a wall on the carriageway of the N3 near Virginia at about 2am. He was named locally as Gary Morgan.
A woman in her late 60s died in on the R733 at Haggard, Ramsgrange, New Ross, at about 1.30pm yesterday when the car she was driving hit a ditch. A female passenger in her 70s was taken by ambulance to Wexford General Hospital.