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30th Nov 2017

Gardaí reveal most dangerous times of the week to be on the road

Carl Kinsella

Sulky race

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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