RSA Highlights Pedestrian Fatalities and Serious Injuries During Road Safety Week

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is highlighting the issue of pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries with the publication of two new reports during Road Safety Week, which began yesterday.

The first report Pedestrian Spotlight Report: Fatalities and Serious Injuries 2019-2023 shows that between 2019 and 2023, a total of 164 pedestrians were tragically killed, and 1,426 sustained serious injuries on Irish roads.

This equates to an average of 33 pedestrian fatalities and 285 serious injuries per year. Pedestrians accounted for 22% of all road fatalities and 20% of serious injuries within this period. Notably, for every pedestrian fatality, there were approximately nine serious injuries.

Key insights from the report include:

• Those aged 75 years and older represented the greatest share of pedestrian fatalities (23%), while children aged 15 or less represented the greatest share of those seriously injured (one in five, 21%).
• Two-thirds (67%) of pedestrian fatalities were male, while over half (55%) of seriously injured pedestrians were male.
• Over half of the pedestrian fatalities occurred on urban roads (52%), while almost nine in ten (89%) pedestrian serious injuries occurred on urban roads.
• Dublin recorded the highest numbers of pedestrian fatalities (18%) and serious injuries (40%).
• One in six fatalities (17%) occurred at junctions, while one in four (27%) serious injuries occurred at junctions.
• 17% of seriously injured pedestrians were crossing the road at the time of the collision.

The second report published today Serious Injuries among Pedestrians in Hospital and An Garda Síochána data uses hospital data to examine the issue of pedestrian injuries for the first time, over a ten year period.

The research was conducted by the RSA in partnership with the HSE and Trinity College Dublin.

The report, which covers the years 2014 to 2023, shows that there were 2,843 pedestrians admitted to hospital as in-patients with injuries from road traffic collisions during the ten-year period, slightly more than the Garda-reported figure of 2,528 seriously injured pedestrians.

The report found that a quarter of hospitalised pedestrians were aged 65 years and older, and 17% were aged 14 years or less. Most hospitalised pedestrians were males (59%), and residents of County Dublin (34%).

40% of hospitalised pedestrians sustained at least one injury to the head, and just over half sustained at least one injury in the lower limbs (52%). They spent an average of 10 days in hospital as in-patients.

28% of all hospitalised pedestrians sustained the most serious injuries from a clinical point of view, with a higher probability of having long-term consequences.

In addition to this ten-year report, the RSA also publishes today a summary report focusing on key points on pedestrian serious injuries from both studies over a five year period 2019-2023.

Sam Waide, Chief Executive of the Road Safety Authority, emphasised the need for increased awareness: "Pedestrian safety is a shared responsibility. The stark statistics from the two reports highlight the urgent need for all road users to be more vigilant and considerate of pedestrians. Children and older people are particularly vulnerable, and the high incidence of fatalities and serious injuries in urban areas underscores the need for better infrastructure and heightened awareness. We must work together to ensure our roads are safe for everyone, especially those on foot."

Notes:

Detailed information on the definition of a serious injury in both Garda and hospital data can be found on the RSA website. See link here.

To date in 2024, a total of 138 lives have been lost on the road. This is 6 less when compared to the same date last year.

Pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries 2019-2024*

*Source: An Garda Síochána collision data. Please note, in the table above figures for 2020 onwards are provisional and subject to change. Figures for 2019-2023 are for the full year while figures for 2024 are for the time period 1 January-6 October 2024.