Taoiseach to hold meeting on road safety as fears grow over death toll

Harris also plans to discuss driving test backlog, with 86,000 waiting

Taoiseach Simon Harris is to meet with road safety chiefs and ministers today to discuss ways to address the carnage on Irish roads.

Mr Harris will hold a meeting with Road Safety Authority (RSA) officials and relevant ministers to consider the increase in road deaths, as 2024 is on course to prove the most lethal for traffic fatalities in 15 years.

So far this year, 63 people have died on our roads, with the death toll climbing by an alarming 31pc compared with the same period in 2023.

Almost half of Ireland’s road deaths this year have involved people under 30 years of age, with that cohort now representing 41pc of all traffic fatalities.

Mr Harris will discuss potential measures aimed at tackling the increase in road deaths and serious injuries, and examine traffic collision trends and how they can be reversed.

It is understood he is eager to meet the RSA, before chairing a meeting of the Government’s road safety ministerial committee in the coming weeks.

Mr Harris had previously said improving road safety will be “a priority issue” for him as Taoiseach.

The Taoiseach will also discuss the backlog in driving tests. Recent figures showed more than 86,000 people waiting to book or take a driving test.

That includes more than 31,000 in Dublin alone. The state body has said the backlog is being caused by “unprecedented demand”.

Mr Harris discussed road safety at a meeting with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Justice Minister Helen McEntee last week.

The meeting came following a directive from the Commissioner for frontline gardaí to police the roads for 30 minutes per shift.

The Irish Independent revealed over the weekend that dedicated road policing officers will not be on duty between 2am and 7am most days, according to a policing plan agreed by Mr Harris.

According to the proposed plan, specialist road traffic officers will work until 3am on Friday and Saturday, but will end duty before 2am every other night, before their shifts start again at 7am.

“This leaves a time gap of many hours when the roads can be a place of absolute death,” a source said.

The latest official figures state there are 627 members of Garda Roads Policing Units , which is down from 688 last year and 692 in 2022.

The plan to reduce dedicated latenight roads policing is part of the negotiated solution to the dispute between management and garda members over changes to rosters that threatened to result in industrial action last year.

A coalition of road safety groups last week expressed no confidence in the RSA and said the organisation is “no longer fit for purpose”.

It called for the state body to be “fundamentally reformed”.

The group called for targeted safety measures to be put in place based on where collisions take place.

Junior transport minister Jack Chambers has said plans for potential reform of the RSA will be brought forward in the next five months.

Of the 63 people who have died on Irish roads this year, 26 were drivers, 19 were passengers, 12 were pedestrians, four were motorcyclists and two were cyclists.

Based on current trends, there could be up to 225 deaths on the roads this year – the highest since 2009.