The number of deaths on the State’s roads in 2010 was the lowest since records began 50 years ago, with December’s total of 10 fatalities the lowest monthly figure in five decades.
Chairman of the Road Safety Authority Gay Byrne said that while the recent cold spell had likely contributed to the low number of deaths in December, road fatalities had almost halved in the past decade.
"This is very heartening news," he said yesterday.
He believed the introduction of random breath-testing and the penalty points system, along with the establishment of a dedicated Garda Traffic Corps, had all combined to change driver behaviour in recent years.
While Mr Byrne was always reluctant to comment on reductions in fatalities for fear a tragic period on the roads might lie ahead, he believed the full roll-out of the new speed camera network in the months ahead should further improve road safety.
"The next challenge that we face, of course, is drug-driving. The situation in places like Europe, the UK and US shows us that drug-driving is almost as big an issue as drinkdriving; there is always only a few percentage points in it."
Assistant Garda Commissioner John Twomey, who is in charge of road traffic enforcement, welcomed the reduction in fatalities but warned that decisions by drivers would dictate trends for 2011.
He urged motorists to reduce speed, particularly in light of the continued roll-out of the new privately operated system of mobile speed cameras.
"We all have a responsibility to think about safety every time we use the roads. Complacency is never an option when it comes to road safety and I want people to bear this in mind throughout 2011."
A reduction of just 1km am hour in average speed had been found in research to bring about a 2 per cent reduction in minor injury collisions, a 3 per cent fall in serious injury collisions and a 4 per cent fall in fatalities.
The number of deaths on the roads in 2010, as of 3pm yesterday, was 212, according to official Garda figures. This was the lowest since records began 50 years ago, some 26 lower than 2009.
In 2001, the number of people killed on the roads was 411, meaning road deaths have almost halved during the past decade.
The Government's road-safety target of achieving no more than 252 deaths per annum by the end of 2012 has already been surpassed by a considerable margin.
Of those who lost their lives in 2010, 91 were driving the vehicles involved in the fatal collisions. Some
55 deaths were of people being carried as passengers in vehicles while 44 pedestrians also died in collisions during the year.
Sixteen motorcyclists and one motorcycle pillion passenger were killed, while five cyclists also lost their lives during the year.
