More pedestrians than drivers died in road accidents in Dublin last year, according to detailed statistics compiled by gardai. Pedestrians accounted for more than one quarter of the 474 deaths which occurred on roads in the Republic. Speed remained the main cause of road deaths, with alcohol playing a part in up to 40 per cent of cases, including pedestrian deaths, according to gardai.
Despite a high-profile Garda road safety campaign last year, the number of deaths was the highest for seven years. The fatalities included 158 drivers, 130 pedestrians, 99 passengers, 60 motor cyclists and 27 cyclists.
In the Dublin metropolitan district, 38 pedestrians were killed, compared with 17 drivers. In the Cork, Kerry and Limerick areas, a total of 30 pedestrians died, compared with 28 drivers.
Of all fatal accidents, 101 involved a single vehicle and resulted in the deaths of 118 people. There were 33 accidents which caused the death or more than one person, accounting for 80 fatalities.
Chief Supt John O'Brien, of the Garda Traffic Policy Bureau, said the number of pedestrian deaths was a matter for concern, and that measures which could help reduce the problem would be discussed at a meeting of senior gardai next week.
The number of motorcyclists killed was also alarming as motorcycles represented only 2 per cent of all registered vehicles, he said.
In the first six months of last year, 26 more people died on the roads than in the corresponding period in 1996.
However, between July and December last year, five fewer people died than in the same period the previous year.
Gardai believe this trend reversal was due to a number of factors, including the introduction of Operation Lifesaver in Counties Louth and Meath last July.
The National Safety Council has expressed deep concern at the number of deaths on Irish roads and stressed that Irish drivers are more likely to exceed speed limits and ignore seat-belt laws than motorists in Britain.
However, alcohol consumption and a lack of care by pedestrians also played a part in the number of road deaths, said the council's information officer, Mr Gavin Freeman.
"We hear a lot about drunken drivers and speeding drivers, but there are also drunken pedestrians and people not taking care when they are crossing roads. That is in the city, and then you have people dressed in black clothes on a winter's night walking on country roads," he said.