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Road Safety and Road Lengths

Road Safety and Road Lengths

In 2021, 137 people were killed on Irish roads

Online ISSN: 2009-5643
CSO statistical release, , 11am
COVID-19 Release Information

This publication has been compiled during the COVID-19 crisis. The results contained in this publication reflect some of the impacts of the COVID-19 situation.

Main results

  • There were 137 fatalities on Irish roads in 2021 compared with 147 in 2020, 140 in 2019 and 135 in 2018. See table 4.1.

  • In 2020, 5,596 people were injured on Irish roads compered with 8,149 (-31%) in 2019. See table 4.4.

Note: Data is provisional. Data on road traffic injuries and detailed data on road fatalities only becomes available following the conclusion of investigations by An Garda Síochána.

Data for 2021 show that 58% of people killed on Irish roads were car users, 16% motor cyclist and 15% pedestrians.

Figure 4.1: Number of fatalities by road user type, 2019-2021

Data is provisional

In 2020, 55% of people injured on Irish roads were car users, followed by pedal cyclist (17%) and pedestrians (14%).

Figure 4.2: Number of injuries by road user type, 2018-2020

August was the month with the highest number of road fatalities in 2021. There were 22 fatalities on Irish roads in August 2021.

Figure 4.3: Number of fatalities by month, 2021
Table 4.1: Number of road fatalities, 2016 to 2021
Table 4.2: Number of persons killed by county, 2021
Table 4.3: Number of persons injured by county, 2020
Table 4.4 Number of persons injured classified by road user type, 2015 - 2020

Additional data

More detailed statistics on Road Safety and Road Lengths can be found under “Data”.