Dáil Question on the Government’s Road Safety Task Force

To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on the work of the Government task force set up to address rising numbers of road fatalities; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Answered by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar T.D.

I assume that the Government task force referred to by the Deputy is the Ministerial Committee on Road Safety.  This Committee met recently, soon after the publication of the Road Safety Strategy 2013 – 2020.  The meeting discussed the current trends in road fatalities.

While I am very concerned at the current trend in road fatalities, it is too early in the year to try and identify patterns.  It is however a reminder to everyone that we must guard against complacency where road safety is concerned.

The successful implementation of the Actions in the Road Safety Strategy, with its very ambitious target of reducing road fatalities to 25 per million population or less by 2020, will assist in reversing the current upward trend in road fatalities.   

While not taking the emphasis of reducing the number of road fatalities, the Strategy also focuses on reducing the number of serious injuries resulting from road traffic collisions by 30% from 472 in 2011 to 330 or fewer by 2020.