Number seriously hurt on roads ‘is triple RSA figures’

FRESH calls have been made for drivers to slow down on the roads after it emerged that the number of people seriously injured in car accidents is three times higher than previously believed.

The plea was made by the authors of the HSE’s first national study on road accident admissions, which found that 14,861 people suffered serious but non-fatal head, limb and other injuries during car crashes between 2005 and 2009.

This figure — based on the hospital system’s own admission record system — is 3½ times higher than statistics reported by the gardaí and the Road Safety Authority (RSA), and is costing the state €1 billion every year in treatment and lost earnings.