Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of deaths on the Irish roads in each month of 2010; if he is satisfied with the progress being made by the road safety strategy in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2259/11]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006 (S.I. No. 477 of 2006) responsibility for the collection of structured information on road collisions lies with the Road Safety Authority (RSA). Road fatalities and road collision statistics are available on the Road Safety Authority's website www.RSA.ie. The core objective of the 2007-2012 Road Safety Strategy, with its 126 Actions spread across the areas of Education, Enforcement, Engineering and Evaluation, is to reduce road deaths to no greater than 60 fatalities per million population by the end of 2012. This is an average of 21 road deaths per month or 252 deaths per annum.

Under action 83 of the Strategy the RSA is tasked with reporting on the 126 actions in the Strategy. Their report on the implementation of the actions for 2009 show that of the 55 actions to be competed in 2009, 39 were completed in full and on time, a further 8 actions are nearing completion or completed outside of the target date and the remaining 8 actions are incomplete. The report on the actions for completion in 2010 will be submitted to me later this year.

However, 2010 saw the lowest number of road deaths on record at 212, an average of 18 road deaths per month. While the core objective has been reached ahead of its target date, we must now concentrate our efforts in ensuring that the figure is not exceeded for each of the remaining years of the Strategy.