asked the Minister for the Environment the accident rate per hundred vehicles on the road in Ireland by comparison to other EC member states.
Written Answers. - Road Accident Comparisons.
64.
Comparisons based solely on the relationship between casualty figures and the numbers of licensed vehicles can be misleading. Total casualty figures are difficult to compare because of variations between member states in the reporting levels of injury-only figures and comparisons based on the relationship between fatality rates and numbers of vehicles do not of themselves offer a reliable guide as to accident trends either on a national or an international basis.
It is now accepted internationally that accident comparisons should desirably be made on the basis of fatality rates in proportion to volume of travel and population. Based on 1983 comparisons of this nature, which is the latest year for which the required statistics are available, the number of road deaths in Ireland in proportion to the volume of travel was the third lowest in the then ten EC countries. On the basis of road deaths in proportion to population, Ireland's rate per 10,000 population in 1983 was 1.5, about average for the EC. The Irish rate has since dropped to 1.3 in 1984 and to 1.18 in 1985.
Following are the relevant statistics:—
|
Number of road deaths per 10 8 vehicle kilometers |
Number of road deaths per 10 population |
Total casualty rate (killed and injured) per 10 4 vehicles |
|
|
Belgium |
4.7 |
2.1 |
194 |
|
Denmark |
2.6 |
1.3 |
68 |
|
Federal Republic of Germany |
3.4 |
1.9 |
170 |
|
France |
4.4 |
2.3 |
106 |
|
Greece |
7.5 |
1.8 |
178 |
|
Ireland |
2.8 |
1.5 |
94 |
|
Italy |
3.3 |
1.5 |
89 |
|
Luxembourg |
Not Available |
1.9 |
137 |
|
Netherlands |
2.5 |
1.2 |
90 |
|
United Kingdom |
2.1 |
1.1 |
154 |