Road traffic accidents - No room for complacency

On a weekend when the victims of road traffic accidents were recalled at World Day of Remembrance events across the country, there could be no more poignant witness than the death of a 65-year-old man following a suspected hit-and-run in Co Galway.

Sadly, he was the 151st person to have died so far this year in collisions on the roads which have claimed more than 23,000 lives since records began in 1959.

Thankfully, the overall picture is steadily improving and road fatalities have dropped by 50% since the Road Safety Strategy was introduced in 2007.