Ireland is now ranked the 6th safest country in the EU in terms of road safety in a report from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published yesterday.
In 2007, Ireland was ranked in 9th position. Last year, 279 people died on Irish roads, compared to 338 deaths in 2007.
Since 2001, the number of people who have died on Irish roads has fallen by 32 per cent. The safety performance of a country is measured by the number of deaths that occur for every million people in the population.
In 2008, Ireland recorded 63 road deaths per million population. This represents an improvement of 41 per cent from 107 people killed per million inhabitants in 2001.
