Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 631: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the fact that there were 67 fatal road collisions this year compared to 66 in the same period last year; his views on the fact that road deaths are unfortunately rising again with only four less deaths now compared to the same period in 2011; if he is considering a reinvigorated road safety campaign to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27982/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The overall stated objective of the current Road Safety Strategy is to reduce the number of road fatalities to no greater than 60 fatalities per million population by the end of 2012, an average of 21 fatalities per month or 252 fatalities per annum.

In 2010 the number of road fatalities was 212, an average of 18 road fatalities per month. 2011 witnessed the lowest recorded number of road fatalities ever on Irish roads at 186, since records began back in 1959. This is an average of 16 road fatalities per month. The number of road fatalities at the 8th June 2012 at 75 is the same as on this date last year.

A report recently published by the European Commission shows that Ireland has moved ahead of Germany on road safety performance and has significantly closed the gap on the leading countries. The report shows that road fatalities in Ireland dropped by 13% between 2010 and 2011 and as a result Ireland has moved up one place to 5th in the road safety rankings in the EU with 42 fatalities per million. The EU average in 2011 was 62 fatalities per million population.

While Ireland, with a 48% reduction in road fatalities between 2001 and 2010, has become established as one of the safest countries in the EU, the better countries have also improved their road safety performance and have set the new standards for which we must now strive. The current Road Safety Strategy will finish this year and the Road Safety Authority is developing the next Strategy that will include measures to ensure that Ireland continues to improve our road safety perfomance for the remainder of the decade and beyond.