155 people died in 149 road crashes in 2022; majority of fatal crashes on 80k speed limit roads
3% increase in road deaths last year, figures from the Road Safety Authority show.
The provisional figures from the RSA found 155 people died in 149 road crashes in 2022 compared to 137 deaths in 124 crashes the previous year.
The figures show that 41 pedestrians were killed on Irish roads last year, nearly double the amount killed in 2021, when 21 pedestrians lost their lives.
Drivers accounted for the highest proportion of deaths at 39%, with 60 killed last year, down ten from the previous year.
The number of passenger fatalities increased by 22% from 18 in 2021 and 22 last year.
A total of seven cyclists were killed last year, the same as in 2021.
There were over 1,290 serious injuries up to December 29th, down slightly from over 1,340 for the same period in 2021.
Cork and Dublin recorded the highest number of deaths with 13 each, while ten people died on roads in Limerick.
19% of those killed were found not to have been wearing a seatbelt.
Chairperson of the Road Safety Authority Liz O'Donnell said that research is showing that people are not obeying the speed limits "particularly on the 80km/h roads" where the majority of fatal crashes happen.