Ireland fails to meet EU target on road deaths
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) will today warn that most EU states, including Ireland, have not made sufficient progress to achieve the ambitious target, which was set in 2001.
A total of 279 people were killed on roads in the Republic last year compared with 338 fatalities in 2007 – a reduction of 17% and the lowest annual total in four decades.
Despite such an impressive performance, Ireland is not among the countries to win an award in the ETSC’s third annual Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) results being announced in Brussels later today.
Spain and Latvia are the joint winners of the 2009 PIN Award.
Although Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia recorded the biggest annual reductions in road fatalities in 2008, all three countries still have some of the highest road death rates in the EU.
ETSC spokeswoman Graziella Jost said only Luxembourg, France, Portugal, Spain, Latvia and Belgium were on track to reach the 50% target by 2010. However, Sweden, the Netherlands and Britain remain the safest countries in the EU for road users.
Ms Jost said Spain and Latvia had won the PIN award because their recent performance had put them on track to meet the official EU target within the 2010 deadline.
She said countries like Ireland – which has achieved a 32% reduction in road fatalities since 2001 – had progressed to a lesser extent. Such figures place Ireland as the 10th best performer of the 27 EU states over the past decade.
“After a particularly bad 2007, 2008 saw a promising decrease in road deaths by 8.3%. This has been the best year-on-year reduction since 2001,” said Ms Jost.
Road deaths decreased in all EU countries except Norway, Malta, Romania and Bulgaria.
Around 39,000 people were killed in traffic collisions in Europe last year – 15,400 less than in 2001 but still far from the target figure of 27,000 set by the EU.
The Road Safety Authority expressed satisfaction with its rate of progress.
“Ireland is now sixth out of the 27 EU member states in road deaths per million population compared to eighth in 2001,” said RSA spokesperson Michael Rowland.
Ireland now has a road fatality rate of 63 people per million population compared with 107 eight years ago – a 41% reduction.
“Major progress had been made in addressing Ireland’s chronic drink-driving problem. Speed, however remains the biggest contributory factor to deaths and injuries on Irish roads,” said Mr Rowland.
“The biggest challenge facing Irish authorities today is to change this culture of speeding.”
