{"id":193742,"date":"2025-12-15T23:42:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/193742\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T23:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:42:07","slug":"number-of-road-deaths-so-far-this-year-passes-total-figure-for-2024-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/193742\/","title":{"rendered":"Number of road deaths so far this year passes total figure for 2024 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of deaths on Irish roads<\/a> so far this year has passed the total figure for 2024, according to provisional data from An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There have been 180 road deaths to date as of Monday, 16 more compared with the same period last year. <\/p>\n

The fatalities include 70 drivers, 30 motorcyclists, 42 pedestrians, 20 passengers, 14 cyclists, two e-scooter drivers or passengers and a pillion passenger. <\/p>\n

There were 174 road deaths in 2024, including 72 drivers, 17 motorcyclists, 35 passengers, 33 pedestrians, 12 cyclists and three e-scooter drivers or passengers. <\/p>\n

There has been a 76 per cent increase to date in the number of motorcyclist deaths compared to last year.<\/p>\n

Three people died in two road crashes in Co Tipperary over the weekend, while a woman driver, aged in her 70s, also died over recent days after she was hospitalised following a single-car crash in Co Kerry last Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Susan Gray, founder of the Parc road safety and victim support group, said the annual increase in road deaths was \u201cvery worrying\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re into the most dangerous time of the year, the festive period. People are being reminded but still the figures are going up and a lot of them are young people,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo think that families are preparing for Christmas and may even have presents under the tree, will now be visiting their loved ones at graves. I can\u2019t get that out of my head. It\u2019s just heartbreaking and there is just so much more that could be done by the Government and the Road Safety Authority [RSA].\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0PR campaigns are not enough to stop people dying on our roads. Here is what we need to doOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ms Gray\u2019s husband Steve died after being knocked down by an unaccompanied learner driver on St Stephen\u2019s Day 2004 in Inishowen, Co Donegal.<\/p>\n

The RSA said the rise in road fatalities underscores the \u201curgent need\u201d for continued vigilance and collective action. <\/p>\n

The State agency said it remains \u201cunwavering\u201d in its commitment and efforts to prevent crashes, improve road safety and promote behaviours and measures that can save lives on roads. <\/p>\n

Se\u00e1n Canney, Minister of State at the Department of Transport with responsibility for road transport, said he was \u201cdevastated that the numbers are so high this year\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important we take stock of what we\u2019re doing individually on the roads and what we\u2019re doing in terms of providing safety, enforcement. We will renew all our efforts to make the roads safer,\u201d he told The Irish Times. <\/p>\n

Mr Canney also said he had confidence in the RSA but that there was \u201cmore to do\u201d around \u201cmessaging to people\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Concerning rise in Irish road deaths and lack of impactful responseOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na is conducting an enforcement operation on the roads throughout the Christmas period, which began on December 1st and will continue until January 5th, 2026.<\/p>\n

Last week, 147 people were arrested for driving under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, with more than 3,265 drivers detected for speeding offences. <\/p>\n

A driver was found to be travelling 101km\/h in a 50km\/h zone on Newtownpark Avenue in Blackrock, south Co Dublin. <\/p>\n

Another motorist was discovered driving 118km\/h in a 60km\/h zone in Stranorlar, Co Donegal, with a separate driver travelling 201km\/h in a 120km\/h region in Kinvara, Co Galway. <\/p>\n

More than 600 vehicles were seized by garda\u00ed for a range of offences under the Road Traffic Act 1961. About 330 fixed-charge notices were issued for using a mobile phone while driving and 85 fines handed out for failing to wear a seat belt. <\/p>\n

An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na said the Christmas period was one of the busiest on Irish roads and when road users are at the highest risk of being involved in a fatal or serious crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na are out day and night across the country as part of our enforcement campaign and will intercept drivers who are putting their lives and the lives of others at risk,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

The Department of Transport said 2025 has been a \u201cvery difficult year\u201d on Irish roads. It said road safety remains a \u201ccore priority\u201d for the Government, with Budget 2026 providing \u20ac1.72 billion for \u201cnational, regional and local roads, alongside safety-focused measures\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of deaths on Irish roads so far this year has passed the total figure for 2024,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,61,60,7727,43,11318],"class_list":{"0":"post-193742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-kerry","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-road-safety"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}