The genesis of the road safety strategy of 1998 to 2002 was the realisation that the number of deaths and injuries on our roads had reached a level that was unacceptable in a modern society. However, it would be wrong to suggest, as some commentators speculated, that Ireland ranked as the worst in the European Union in terms of road safety. While such speculation was falsely based, the Government realised that our road safety record was significantly less impressive than that in some of our fellow member states. The purpose of the strategy was to move our record closer to the best in Europe.