Road deaths: 2024 numbers point to 15% year on year rise

In April, Jack McCarron led the reporting on a special project examining Irish road safety issues. Here, as the number of road fatalities this year crosses the tragic threshold of 100, he analyses the data to see what can be understood.

On Tuesday morning, a woman in her 70s tragically died following a collision involving a car and a lorry on the N25 near Dungarvan in Co Waterford.

It brings the number of road fatalities so far this year to 100, and sadly underlines how Irish road safety is continuing to trend significantly in the wrong direction.

The trends

2023 was the worst year for road deaths in nearly a decade, with 188 deaths. 2024 is tracking to be worse again.

This day last year, 87 people had died on the roads, and it would be 1 August 2023 before 100 fatalities were recorded.

This year’s figures indicate road fatalities are trending 15% higher year on year.

As the sad news emerged of the 100th fatality this year the RSA’s CEO, Sam Waide, said “as we reflect on this figure, it is imperative that we collectively double down on our efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate road trauma.

“One life lost is one too many and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives.”

It’s been 14 years since Ireland has seen 200 road fatalities. Yet unless something significant changes, that horrific threshold looks likely to be breached.

Analysing the data, several things stand out.

The demographics

This year, as in previous years, young people have been disproportionately represented in road deaths. 27% of the deaths so far this year have been people aged 25 or younger, according to the RSA, a percentage significantly higher than other age categories.

Of the fatalities in that age bracket, 64% were men, continuing the trend of previous years in which young males have been the group most likely to be involved in a fatal collision.

Eleven people under the age of 18 have died as a result of road traffic collisions. The youngest fatality was a one-year-old girl.

Around one in three of all fatalities were people aged 50 or older. The oldest person to die on our roads this year was an 87-year-old man.

READ: The psychology of why so many young people die on our roads

The individuals

Around 60% of the people killed were either drivers or passengers. Of these, the vast majority (38) were behind the wheel.

Twenty-two passengers have been killed already on the road this year, as well as 20 pedestrians.

Twelve motorcyclists and six cyclists have died on Irish roads in 2024, as have two people that were travelling on an e-scooter. One person died while driving a quad bike.

Several deaths remain under investigation.

In terms of gender breakdown, about twice as many men have died on the roads this year compared to women. Such a divide is not unusual.

The roads

Eight people have died on the N17 alone, according to records kept by Prime Time based on provisional Garda data and media reports. Three people died in a crash in March, while five others have died in other separate incidents.

The N17 runs through counties Sligo, Galway and Mayo.

This means around one in every 12 road deaths have happened on the same road.

The N17 is part of the national roads network which is maintained by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

In a statement to Prime Time, TII said it is constantly monitoring the situation on the N17 and that periodically carry out “a collision analysis of the entire national road network, as well as pro-active safety inspections.”

“The purpose of this combined process is to identify both locations that have high concentrations of collisions and/or potential collisions,” TII said.

At least 44 people have died on the TII-overseen national road network this year. It is made up of motorways and national primary and secondary roads.

The rest of the deaths happened on regional and local road networks, which are generally roads with a speed limit of 80km/h or lower.

Urban-rural county divide

Rural counties experience a disproportionate number of road fatalities in terms of population size. There have been 11 fatalities in Dublin and four in Cork city. This contrasts with the Roscommon, Mayo, Longford region which has seen 16 fatalities.

Just two counties, Laois and Leitrim, have seen no road deaths so far this year.

Local authorities have responsibility for 95% of the roads network – the roads not overseen by TII – and almost all roads in rural areas. They maintain such roads, and make any relevant design changes in the event of safety concerns.

In April, Prime Time revealed that road engineering teams in local authorities were not able to view specific data on road collisions due to GDPR concerns.

The data detailing time, type, cause, speed and other factors relating to the collision, assists in identifying and informing safety-related design and layout changes.

In recent weeks, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) told an Oireachtas Committee that it will resume sharing of key crash data with local authorities “in due course.”

However, Department of Transport officials did not commit to a clear timeline.

In terms of provinces, nearly half of all road deaths have occurred in Leinster (44), 28 happened in Munster, 19 in Connacht, while eight people died in the Ulster counties in the Republic of Ireland.

The key contributory factors

According to the latest available data, which does not cover fatalities this year, speed is a contributing factor in 26% of all road fatalities.

The TII statement said: “it is for this reason that TII is currently working with An Garda Síochána to install a static speed camera on the N17 in the vicinity of the recent collisions.”

Intoxicated driving also contributes to dozens of fatalities each year. The Government is hoping the new Road Traffic Act can do something to address both speed and intoxicated driving.

The Act passed through the Oireachtas in May and introduces mandatory checks for drugs at the scene of collisions.