Written answers
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport
Road Traffic Accidents Data
Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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980. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will forward a report on the number of accidents that have occurred on Irish roads with trailers being the cause of the accidents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49545/14]
Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Road Safety Authority has carried out an analysis of collisions involving trailers, and an overview is provided in Table 1. The collision data provided to the RSA by An Garda Síochána relates to the specific vehicle types i.e. ‘Goods, rigid and trailer’ and ‘Goods, artic with semi-trailer’. Other vehicles towing trailers are not recorded in the data.Over the period 1996 to 2012, there has been a decline in the number of fatal, serious and minor injury collisions involving at least one of these vehicle types in line with the overall decline in collisions during this period. There were 248 incidents in 1996, and this reduced to 48 in 2012. Collisions involving goods vehicles with trailers represent 7% of all fatal collisions occurring over the period 1996-2012 and 4% of all serious injury collisions over the period. (see Table 1)
Table 1: Collisions by severity involving at least one Goods Vehicle with Trailer
| - | - | - | Collision Type | - | - | - | - | No. of Collisions | - |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | Fatal | Serious | Minor | Total | Fatal Collisions | % | Serious Injury Collisions | % |
| Year | 1996 | 30 | 55 | 163 | 248 | 415 | 7.2 | 1651 | 3.3 |
| 1997 | 42 | 70 | 159 | 271 | 424 | 9.9 | 1544 | 4.5 | |
| 1998 | 32 | 62 | 187 | 281 | 408 | 7.8 | 1345 | 4.6 | |
| 1999 | 37 | 50 | 190 | 277 | 374 | 9.9 | 1302 | 3.8 | |
| 2000 | 28 | 64 | 184 | 276 | 362 | 7.7 | 1189 | 5.4 | |
| 2001 | 30 | 46 | 143 | 219 | 360 | 8.3 | 1034 | 4.4 | |
| 2002 | 22 | 26 | 118 | 166 | 346 | 6.4 | 827 | 3.1 | |
| 2003 | 21 | 28 | 124 | 173 | 301 | 7.0 | 796 | 3.5 | |
| 2004 | 30 | 15 | 102 | 147 | 334 | 9.0 | 662 | 2.3 | |
| 2005 | 21 | 23 | 111 | 155 | 360 | 5.8 | 787 | 2.9 | |
| 2006 | 19 | 25 | 94 | 138 | 321 | 5.9 | 653 | 3.8 | |
| 2007 | 17 | 26 | 108 | 151 | 309 | 5.5 | 618 | 4.2 | |
| 2008 | 18 | 19 | 104 | 141 | 254 | 7.1 | 613 | 3.1 | |
| 2009 | 12 | 14 | 94 | 120 | 220 | 5.5 | 463 | 3.0 | |
| 2010 | 4 | 18 | 74 | 96 | 186 | 2.2 | 409 | 4.4 | |
| 2011 | 9 | 3 | 43 | 55 | 172 | 5.2 | 348 | 0.9 | |
| 2012 | 7 | 6 | 35 | 48 | 152 | 4.6 | 333 | 1.8 | |
| Total | 379 | 550 | 2033 | 2962 | 5298 | 7% | 14574 | 4% |
Over the period 1996-2012, where responsibility for the collision was attributed by a Garda at the scene, responsibility was attributed to the driver of a goods vehicle with trailer in 38% of cases (1,112 drivers), and, in 27% of cases (800 drivers), responsibility was attributed to a private car driver. Responsibility for any given collision can be assigned to more than one of the drivers involved.
The number of fatal collisions involving trailers attached to other vehicle types is shown in Table 2 as follows for the period 2012-2014. In one of the eight collisions as follows, responsibility for the collision was attributed to the driver of the vehicle towing the trailer.
Table 2
| Year | No. of fatal collisions involving vehicles with trailers | Vehicle type |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 4 | 2 Tractors with trailers 1 Jeep with trailer 1 4x4 with trailer |
| 2013* | 3 | 2 tractors with trailers 1 jeep with trailer |
| 2014* | 1 | 1 Tractor with trailer |
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