Lower speed limits will help Ireland reduce road deaths

Wales cut road casualties by 28% after reducing speed limits. Yet only one of the new lower speed limits introduced in Ireland's Road Traffic Act 2024 has been implemented

Every week, 10 people are killed or seriously injured while walking, cycling or scooting. Stock picture 

Road deaths are rising in Ireland and, despite what you might have heard, this is not a post-covid phenomenon.

Over the last 15 years, there have been, on average, 168 deaths per year on our roads. Some years it has been higher, some years it has been lower, but we haven’t seen any appreciable reduction in fatalities since the last years of the Celtic Tiger. The last two years have been well above the average, and this year’s numbers are sadly heading in the same direction.