Trauma doc calls for 50kmh limit to cut death toll

Policy changes demanded as fatalities on roads increase

- SHAUNA CORR

A LEADING trauma medic has called for a blanket 50kmh limit on rural roads and 30kmh in urban areas, warning that for every one person killed on the roads, 10 more are left with life-changing injuries.

Dr Colm Byrne, who works at the Mater Hospital's emergency department and the National Trauma Centre, said urgent action is required to stop Ireland's mounting death toll.

According to Garda statistics, 126 people have been killed on our roads this year - up 24 from 2022 and 39 more than the same period in 2019.

Of those who died this year, 29 were pedestrians, three were cyclists, 44 drivers, 29 passengers, three were on e-scooters and one was a pillion passenger.

The number of collisions has also risen from 78 in 2019 to 97 in 2022 and 116 this year.

In the past month alone, two 17-year-old girls were killed in Clones, three girls and a man in Clonmel and a three-year-old boy died along with his grandparents in Cashel.