Mounting death toll driving need to slow down on roads, says new Minister of State for Transport

The new Minister with responsibility for transport safety has said that reducing speed will be his main priority following a significant increase in deaths on Irish roads during 2022.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport Jack Chambers told The Irish Times it was unfortunate to see a large increase in fatalities over the past 12 months. Figures released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) show that 155 people died in incidents on Irish roads during 2022, an increase of 18 on the previous year.

There was a substantial increase in the number of pedestrians who were killed. The figure almost doubled in 2022 compared to 2021 — up from 21 deaths to 41 deaths.

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Mr Chambers said that the Government introduced a new road safety strategy only a year ago, which included 186 actions in the first phase. He said his department, the RSA and An Garda Síochána were implementing the actions. However, he said he intends to review the strategy early this year to see what additional actions need to be taken to further reduce deaths.

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“It is clear that speed will be a focus for me,” said Mr Chambers. “It’s particularly worrying to see a large increase in the number of pedestrians killed. We know that excessive speed by drivers was linked to many of these deaths.”

RSA chairwoman Liz O’Donnell noted last week that a vehicle hitting a pedestrian at high speed will more than likely kill them, while a car striking a pedestrian at 30km/h will not result in death in nine out of 10 instances.

Seat belts

Several significant measures included in the road safety strategy have been introduced in the past year. They include a significant increase in fines for 16 different road traffic offences including not wearing a seat belt, speeding and using a mobile phone while driving.

“Drivers on our roads need to redouble their focus and take on the responsible approach that driving a motor vehicle requires,” said Mr Chambers.

The number of deaths each year on Irish roads fell sharply from 2006, when 365 people died, to 137 in 2021. The 155 deaths for 2022 is the highest recorded for six years, since 2016.

A total of 23 motorcyclists died last year, while seven cyclists were also killed. In addition, one driver of an e-scooter died in 2022.

Another focus during 2023 will be to review the speed limits that apply along some stretches of the national road network in rural areas where a higher frequency of crashes occur, said Mr Chambers. Almost three out of four deaths occurred on rural roads where the national speed limit applied.