Lower speed limits urged by Road Safety Authority amid ‘horrendous escalation’ in road fatalities

Road Safety Authority chairwoman Liz O’Donnell said the increased fatalities on the road this year, which stands at 125 so far in comparison to 100 during the same period in 2022, is an “horrendous escalation” in the figures. The latest fatality, a three-year-old girl, died in a road traffic collision in Portlaoise, Co Laois, on Wednesday afternoon.

“We have been watching the trend going up and this year it is even worse,” she said. The return to normal life in 2022 and this year after Covid-19 has seen a return to more bad behaviour on the roads, she indicated.

“There has been an increase in speeding and detections for impaired driving. One in three of those detected are showing signs for drugs.”

She believes that the spike in the number of single-vehicle fatalities could be due to motorists speeding and not paying attention to the road.

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[ Road deaths in first half of 2023 at highest level for six years ]

The problem of speeding is particularly pronounced with young males, and the RSA is targeting them through a social media campaign on TikTok and in stadiums.

Thirty young people between 16 and 25 have died to the end of August this year, in comparison with 34 in the periods to the end of August in 2021 and 2022 combined. Of the 29 passenger fatalities who have died this year, 21 were aged 29 or younger.

“It is due to recklessness and we have to address that. Parents have to speak to their adult children. It’s a wake-up call ... we are slipping up again in terms of bad driving behaviour.”

Many of those deaths are happening on country roads with 100km/hour and 80km/hour speed limits. Ms O’Donnell said she would raise the issue of changing the speed limits on these roads to 80km/hour and 60km/hour respectively when the Dáil returns in September.

“We need more visible policing, we need more GoSafe vans and we need to lower the speed limits,” she said.