Drug-related deaths outnumber road deaths three to one

The drug-related death toll in Ireland in 2014 outstripped the numbers killed on the roads by more than three to one, figures from the Health Research Board (HRB) show.

And of the 697 who died, half were aged 39 or younger. Three in four of all deaths were males.

While 13 people on average died each week as a result of a drug-related death in 2014 — 697 in total — 193 people, more than three a week, lost their lives on the roads the same year.