Road Crash Statistics

399 people died in road collisions in 2005, an increase of 25 or 6.7% on 2004 when a total of 374 people lost their lives. Compared to 2003, the safest year on Irish roads in over 40 years, the number of fatalities in 2005 equates to a 19% rise in road deaths.

Expressed as a monthly average, the average number of fatalities in 2003 was 28, in 2004 it was 31 and in 2005 the monthly average was 33.

If the core objective of the current Government Road Safety Strategy 2004 - 2006 to reduce road deaths to no more than 300 by 2006 is to be achieved, the average monthly fatality rate must be reduced to 25 road deaths per month.

Breakdown of road user fatalities in 2005*
Pedestrians	71	(18%)
Drivers	170	(43%)
Passengers	91	(23%)
Motorcyclists	51	(13%)
Pillion passengers	4	(1%)
Pedal cyclists	11	(2%)
Other	1	-
Total	399	(100%)

Table 1: Irish Road Safety in Context - 1998 to 2005
YEAR	DEATHS	MONTHLY AVERAGE	NO. VEHICLES†	NO. LICENCE HOLDERS†
1998	458	38	1,510,853	1,943,184
1999	413	34	1,608,156	2,039,509
2000	415	34	1,682,221	2,014,296
2001	411	34	1,769,684	2,036,624
2002	376	31	1,850,046	2,110,666
2003	335	28	1,937,429	2,217,076
2004	374	31	2,036,307	2,285,323
2005	399	33	2,138,680	2,352,540
% change on 1998 and 2005	- 13%	- 13%	+ 41%	+21%