Significant increase in young people dying on Irish roads

There has been a significant increase in the number of young people being killed on the country’s road this year, according to new figures released by An Garda Síochána today.

According to the provisional figures for 2026, 45 people aged under the age of 25 have died in road collisions so far this year; almost a third of all road traffic fatalities.

This compares to 32 people aged under 25 in the same period last year.

Over 65s accounted for a fifth of all road deaths (30), but made up over a third of all pedestrians who were killed (10 out of 28).

A total of 149 people have been killed on the country’s roads so far this year.**

That is 11 more than the same period last year.

The number of deaths was greater than the number of actual collisions (138), with gardaí reporting that collisions resulting in multiple fatalities had significant impact on figures.

Seven multiple vehicle collisions accounted for 17 fatalities.

The collision with most fatalities was the crash on the M9 in August in which five young men were killed.

Of those who died this year, 116 were male and 32 were female.

We need your consent to load this flourish contentWe use flourish to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Fifty-seven drivers were killed and 25 passengers, while 22 motorcyclists and 28 pedestrians also died on Irish roads this year.

Cyclists accounted for 13 deaths, while the relatively new category of E-scooter or E-bike users accounted for four deaths – twice the number who died last year.

July and August were the deadliest months of this year so far, with over 20 people dying on the country’s roads in both months.

Since then, the average monthly toll has dropped, with gardaí attributing this to a recurring trend, where after particularly devastating months for fatalities there is a period where road fatalities reduce.

Nearly half (42%) of all fatal road crashes occurred on a Saturday or Sunday this year.

Sunday is clearly the deadliest day of the week, with 38 people dying on a Sunday this year, 14 more than the same time last year.

The most dangerous time of the day on the country’s roads was between 2pm and 4pm, with 16% of fatalities occurring in this two-hour period.

So far this year only one county has not had a road traffic fatality and that is Co Offaly.

Unsurprisingly, Dublin has the largest number of road traffic fatalities (21) followed by Cork (12), Meath (10) and Donegal (10).

Both Clare and Kildare saw significant increases in road deaths this year.

Both counties recorded nine deaths each in 2026, compared to two each last year.

**Note: road traffic fatality figures accurate as at 5.30pm Wednesday, 21 October.

A 25-year-old man died after he was struck by a car on the N20 at Burnfort, in Mallow, Co Cork at 5.45pm yesterday evening.

Tags: