Ireland fails to meet EU target on road deaths

IRELAND is set to miss out on the EU target of cutting road deaths by 50% by 2010, despite a major reduction in fatalities on Irish roads last year.

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.