Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Waide. I have a final question. There is research beginning to emanate now from a number of different locations here in Europe and indeed in the US. There is some really good research coming from the US. One particular piece looks at death and injury in the state of Illinois over a period of three years, from 2016 to 2019. All concluded that children are eight times more likely to die when struck by an SUV compared to a passenger car. The higher body weight of SUVs means that fatality and serious injury rates are higher, and that even happens at lower speeds.

In 2021, the RSA and our Government published a ten-year road safety strategy. That strategy is completely silent on the issue of vehicle weight and size as a major contributing factor to road deaths and serious injuries. Was any analysis done on that aspect of road safety. If not, why not?