Galway road deaths continue on downward trend

Six people lost their lives on Galway’s roads in 2017, down from ten the previous year, according to the Road Safety Authority’s end-of-year report.

In fact, the number of deaths recorded on the city and county’s roads is a fraction of the average recorded last decade.

In the ‘noughties’, there were an average of 22 deaths each year on our roads, figures from the RSA and Central Statistics Office show, with the highest number being in 2002 at 26.

Nationally, the RSA has described the 158 road deaths in 2017 as a “record low” since records began in 1959. In 2016, there were 186 lives lost.

However, Moyagh Murdock, Chief Executive of the RSA, said the country is still a “long way off” achieving targets.

“Ireland is still a long way off achieving its road safety targets as set out in the Government Road Safety Strategy 2013 to 2020. The Strategy has set the task of making Ireland’s roads as safe as the best performing countries in the European Union.

“Specifically, to reduce road fatalities on Irish roads to 124 or fewer by 2020. This means there must be a further 22% reduction in road deaths, on 2017 figures, over the next three years.

“While this will be a challenging target to achieve given our mixed road safety performance since 2013, it’s one that we must all strive to achieve through our continued efforts to implement the 144 road safety measures contained in the strategy,” said Ms Murdock.

Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael Finn thanked motorists for their behavioural changes.

“I would like to express my thanks to all the drivers who slowed down, wore their safety belt, put the mobile away and most importantly did not drink or take drugs and drive. All road users played a part in making this the safest year on record – but we can never be complacent and we can always do more to reduce road fatalities further. One road death is one too many.

“An Garda Síochána will continue to target those that put others in danger on the roads, and the additional 150 Traffic Corps members being recruited in 2018 will greatly assist us to target and intercept those that cause risk to you and I on the road,” said the Assistant Commissioner.