Ahead of the Christmas season, Gardaí have released important stats on when road users are most likely to suffer a fatal collision.
In a press release, the Gardaí have revealed that the most dangerous time to be on the road is 4pm to 8pm, with one-third of all road traffic collision fatalities occurring after accidents within that timeframe. 23% of fatalities occur in the early afternoon between 12pm and 4pm, followed by 12am-6am (22%). Morning is the safest period to be on the roads.
Gardaí have also revealed that fatal traffic collisions are most prevalent on Sundays, with 21% of all fatalities occurring then. Early on Sunday mornings are especially dangerous.
It was further revealed that more pedestrians are killed on the roads (26%) than passengers (18%). Drivers are most likely to be the ones killed on the roads, accounting for almost half of all road deaths (46%).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ireland’s cities —especially Galway, Dublin and Cork — account for many of the road deaths (32%).
The winter period is an especially dangerous time to be on Irish roads. According to the Gardaí, “analysis of preliminary Garda data from 2008-2016 reveals that a total of 292 road users were killed in the months of November and December. The average number of fatalities each month for this nine-year period was 16 in November and 16 in December.”
Drivers can make Irish roads a much safe place by observing the law and rules of the road, as well as avoiding drink-driving. Alcohol was found to be a contributing factor in 38% of road deaths during the winter period of the last ten years.
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