Bank holiday road dangers - Safety on the roads

The August bank holiday has historically been one of the most dangerous weekends on Irish roads. There have been 12 deaths and 27 people seriously injured during August bank holiday weekends since 2010. That is a grim statistic.

While the number of fatalities on Irish roads has declined overall in recent years, we can ill afford to become complacent.

Over a single weekend in the middle of this month, five people lost their lives in three separate accidents, bringing to 10 the number of people killed on the roads this month. There have been 90 deaths on Irish roads so far this year, down from 112 at this point in 2014.

That is still 90 too many and, despite the downward trend so far this year, Ireland’s road death toll last year represented the seventh largest increase out of 32 countries in Europe.

There were 188 road fatalities in 2013, rising to a provisional total of 195 in 2014 — representing a rise of 3.7% during the year compared to a European average of -0.6%.

These are also grim statistics but it should be borne in behind that behind every one of those figures lies horror and heartache for families and loved ones left behind.

The gardaí, Road Safety Authority, and Department of Transport can only do so much. It is up to each individual user of the roads to stay safe this weekend.

Don’t become another statistic.