161 deaths on Irish roads in 2012

PROVISIONAL road casualty figures for 2012 published this week show a total of 161 people lost their lives on Irish roads in 2012.
This is 25 fewer fatalities compared to 186 deaths in 2011 and 51 fewer deaths compared to 2010, when 212 people lost their lives on the roads.
Road deaths have now fallen every year since 2006. 2012 was the fifth year in-a-row that a new record low for fatalities in this country has been achieved.
The third Road Safety Strategy 2007 to 2012, which will be replaced in early 2013 with a new eight-year strategy, set a target of reducing road deaths to no more than 252 deaths per annum by the end of 2012.
Since the beginning of 2007, there has been a 56% decrease in road deaths. While the total number of serious injuries sustained in crashes in 2012 is not yet available, there has been a 51% reduction in these injuries up to the end of 2011.
Minister for Transport Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, said, “For the seventh year in-a-row, the number of people killed on the roads has dropped. In 2012, the loss of life was the lowest ever recorded. Further key road safety measures will be implemented this year and the new road safety strategy will be published. But this change really comes down to the efforts of every single road user.”
Commenting on the release of the provisional figures, Gay Byrne, chairman, Road Safety Authority said, “At the end of 2006, the year before the third Road Safety Strategy was launched, we were losing a life on the road every single day. Six years later and this has dropped to three lives lost every week. So as a result of your actions, the road using public, you are preventing four deaths every week now, compared to 2006. ”
“We know we can do better because countries like Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands have done it. The task begins with the development and publication of the new Road Safety Strategy, which will cover the period 2013 to 2020.”
RSA chief executive Noel Brett, paid tribute to the work of the gardaí and emergency services, “It is important, as we come to the end of another year, that we acknowledge and thank those on the front line in road safety.”
Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, Martin Callinan, thanked all road users who have made a conscious and positive change to both their attitudes and behaviour on the road.
“In 2012, we identified Sunday as being the most dangerous day of the week on our roads, and in particular between 4pm and 6pm. To some, Sunday is a day of leisure but this fact serves as a reminder to all that collisions can happen to anyone at any time. We all must remember that complacency can cost lives.”
Last year, 30% of road deaths were under 25 years of age and 41% road deaths occurred on Saturday and Sunday. The hours between 4pm and 6pm were the most dangerous, with 31 deaths (19%) according to the statistics. 67% of all those killed on the roads were male.