Up to 1.2 million people die every year in road accidents globally and 35 million people are injured. Is driving in Ireland really that dangerous?

Statistically speaking, Ireland sits in about the middle of the chart when it comes to road accident statistics.

According to the most recent figures available (2003), Ireland has a per capita fatality rate of 8.46 people, meaning 8.46 people were killed on Irish roads in 2003 per 100,000 of the population. Compare this to safety-conscious France at 9.49, New Zealand at 11.48 and the United States whose per capita fatality rate is an appalling 14.75 and you can see we are not the only country facing a battle to try to reduce the road accident record.

Bear in mind though that our accident rate for 2003 is still significantly higher than Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Finland or the UK. (See statistics at bottom of page)

Do our road death rates and accident rates stay static?

In 2006, according to the Garda figures, 368 people were killed in road accidents. This is down on 2005 (396) and 2004 (374) but up noticeably on 2003 (335). (The good results for 2003 have been attributed to the introduction of the penalty points system.)

Our fatality rate has remained under 400 a year for the first time since the mid 1960s when there was a fraction of the cars on the road.

As tragic as last year’s toll of 368 people is, compare it with the horrific figure that 1972 yielded; 640 deaths on Irish roads in a time when the population was easily a million people lower and only one in four adults ran a car.

So, we have a long way to go to push our road deaths rate down, but should not lose hope that we can do it.

Motorcyclists especially vulnerable

If you ride a motorcycle in Ireland, you really do need to keep your mind on your driving.

According to statistics from the AA and the UK Department of Transport, who were conducting an international comparison study, motorcyclists in Ireland accounted for 1.5 fatalities per 1,000 licensed riders. Compare that to Belgium, which is half that figure, and Finland where the number of motorcycle fatalities was down to about 0.2 and the Italians, normally seen as very aggressive drivers, were only slightly worse than that and well ahead of our figure.

It should be noted that these figures date back to 1998. According to 2003 figures, motorcyclists account for 1.8% of road users but nearly 12% of road fatalities in Ireland. So if you don't want to be another number, maybe you should read the Road Safety Authority's advice on safety for motorcyclists, while car drivers could read up on how to account for motorcyclists on the roads.

Non-nationals

The subject of non-national drivers is becoming a heated issue. Because they are driving cars registered in another state they do not have to pass an NCT in Ireland.

Because the driver’s documentation is in another language, they cannot receive penalty points.

The amendment to the road traffic act only applies to those holding a valid Irish driving licence so non-nationals, even those from the UK, cannot receive penalty points in the same manner that Irish licence holders cannot get points for being caught speeding in the UK.

Also try proving that a Latvian driver in a Latvia-registered car has no insurance.

A suggestion in 2006 by the chairman of the joint Oireachtas committee John Ellis TD (Fianna Fáil) to put a mandatory test in place for non-national drivers collapsed, given that 400,000 Irish-born drivers take to the roads every day with provisional licences, having never passed a test.

Many of the non-nationals coming over to Ireland tend to be young and a bit lead footed, they also tend to come from countries in Eastern Europe that have a dreadful accident record (Latvia, Albania, Poland) and they bring left-hand-drive cars making them more vulnerable to accidents while overtaking.

Pedestrians

In 2003, it was reported by RTE that Ireland had the third highest death rate in Europe for pedestrians.

The figure for pedestrians still remains high; more pedestrians are killed in Ireland in an average year than vehicle passengers, according to the Road Safety Authority.

The reasons for this are not clear, although pedestrians walking on the side of busy roads could be a factor. In Europe, the busiest roads tend to be motorways, on which pedestrian traffic is forbidden.

* Japan - 8,877 road deaths against a population of 127.3 million
Australia - 1,634 road deaths, population 19.9 million
Germany - 6,613 road deaths, population 82.4 million
Switzerland – 546 road deaths, population 7.45 million
Finland – 379 road deaths, population 5.2 million
UK - 3,508 road deaths, population 60.3 million

(These are all 2003 figures and it should be noted that the statement is on a per capita basis)

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