Road deaths on the rise - Resolve to make our roads safer

It is unfortunate that statistics show that the death toll on our roads rose again last year, especially as the great efforts put into promoting road safety in recent years seemed, for a while at least, to pay dividends.

Almost 200 people — 196 — died on the Republic’s roads last year, continuing the reversal of a hard-won trend of ever-fewer traffic deaths. That disheartening trend shows no sign of slowing as the first fatality of 2015 has already been recorded in Donegal.

Though the number of drivers killed fell from 95 to 79, there was a significant increase in the number of other road users killed. These included 42 pedestrians and 12 cyclists and it is believed — almost incredibly at this stage — that 26% of the 39 car or truck passengers killed were not wearing a seatbelt. A total of 16 children were killed on the roads — eight were pedestrians and eight were passengers.

These statistics may seem cold and remote but every time you use the roads you run the risk of becoming part of this sad story, either through your own behaviour or through someone else’s misadventure.

The figures should also be regarded as just the tip of the iceberg. Very many people are seriously injured in road accidents, some to the extent that a normal life is no longer possible. How wonderful it would be if we all resolved to be better, more careful road users for the coming year.