Road deaths crisis takes a worrying twist

THE number of accidents involving foreign motorists has increased at a steady rate since 2003, the Motor Insurers Bureau in Ireland has confirmed.

For most of its existence, the vast majority of insurance claims processed by the MIBI in relation to non-national drivers related to accidents involving tourists. Invariably, many such cases involved foreign motorists unfamiliar with driving on the right-hand side of the road.

Now, however, a new pattern seems to be emerging and one which appears linked to Ireland’s fast-growing immigrant population.