A new report published by the European Transport Safety Council in Brussels this week shows that Ireland has made remarkable road safety progress over the last decade and is now the sixth safest country out of 27 EU Member states., while the UK appear even higher in the list.

The report shows that since 2001, Ireland alone has seen a rapid improvement in road safety. A total of 411 people were killed on Irish roads in 2001 compared to 212 in 2010 which represents a 48% cut in road deaths. Only ten other countries, out of 27 EU member states, managed to achieve or improve on this level of reduction in road deaths.

The ETSC report also shows that road deaths in Ireland dropped by 11% between 2009 and 2010 and as a result, Ireland has moved up one place in the road safety rankings in the EU. Ireland is now the sixth safest country out of 27 EU Member states, with 47 deaths per million population. The five countries with better track records than Ireland remain Sweden (28 deaths per million), the UK, Malta, The Netherlands and Germany. Ireland’s roads are now safer than roads in Australia (61) and the USA (107).