Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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293. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to report on the recently published report by Trinity College Dublin students, which states that serious injuries as a result of road traffic collisions are far higher than reported in the Road Safety Authority statistics; the discussions he has had with the authority regarding widening and strengthening its data collection and collation; the discussions that are taking place on a European level to define serious injury; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14051/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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​I am aware that research has recently been published by TCD researchers in the Journal of Safety Research, using probabilistic and deterministic linkage techniques to produce estimates of non-fatal road traffic injuries.  I welcome any such contribution from academia to our understanding of road safety matters.  However, such estimates can only inform our understanding and not replace the official data.  Data on serious injuries resulting from road traffic collisions is produced by the Road Safety Authority (RSA)  from information provided by an Garda Síochána.  The RSA has carried out extensive research into this data, including the under-reporting of road traffic collisions to an Garda.  The RSA has also examined data available from other sources, including the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) system and the Personal Injuries Board, but there are limitations associated with both of these databases including, but not limited to, the lack of common unique identifiers.

​Difficulties in reporting serious injury are not unique to Ireland.  In 2013 the EU countries agreed to a standard definition of "serious injury" for use in EU road safety statistics.  At the Road Transport Safety Conference on Serious Injuries held as part of Ireland's European Presidency in March 2013, the RSA publicly announced its participation in the project, which aims to address under-reporting of serious injury and allow for like-for-like comparisons across the EU.

However, Ireland, in common with the majority of the other participating EU countries, is facing challenges in terms of data protection requirements, and the identification of an independent third party to conduct matching of databases. This project is still at an early stage.