The chief executive of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), Noel Brett, has said he was "absolutely delighted" with public response to the road safety message over the bank holiday weekend.
Mr Brett was speaking last night after a relatively safe bank holiday weekend on the roads. A man and a woman died in separate crashes on Friday and Saturday, but no one was killed overnight on Sunday, usually one of the worst nights for road deaths, particularly on bank holidays.
Mr Brett said his first thoughts were with the families of those who died. "The fact that we lost any lives at all is a tragedy and it is of course particularly tragic for their families and my sympathies are with them."
However, he said he was delighted that there were far fewer deaths than on the last bank holiday weekend, just two weeks ago, when nine people were killed in crashes. "Obviously one weekend doesn't make the year but it could be the beginning of a trend for the better."
It was far too early to make any assumptions and statistically some of the best years for road safety had "horrendous" bank holiday weekends. He hoped the low number of fatalities was more than just good luck.
"We're absolutely delighted with the level of public buy-in and support for the message we've been giving out and the appeals to people to take personal responsibility, which of course has been backed up by great Garda enforcement."
The two road fatalities both occurred in daytime.
Liam Hogan (38) Ardsalagh, Youghal, Co Cork, died when his motorcycle hit a concrete bollard at Dunkettle, Glanmire, at 12.20pm, on Saturday.
A woman in her 70s died shortly before 5pm on Friday when her car hit at wall at Ballinagh Road, Cavan.
