Vol. 436 No. 1
111 Mr. E. Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment if he will make a statement on the conflicting figures on road deaths of the Insurance Industry Federation, which claimed that Ireland had the third worst record in Europe, and the Environmental Research Unit study 1992, which claims that only the UK, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands have lower rates.
I understand that the statistics quoted by the Irish Insurance Federation are based on a survey carried out by insurance interests in some 17 European countries and relate to the number of road deaths per 10,000 vehicles. However, comparisons based solely on the relationship between deaths and numbers of vehicles do not of themselves offer a reliable guide to international accident trends, as the varying levels of motorisation in European countries can distort the comparison.
It is accepted internationally that comparisons should desirably be made on the basis of fatality rates in proportion to population and volume of travel. It is these comparisons which are used by the Environment Research Unit.
On the basis of road deaths per 10,000 population, Ireland's rate was 1.4 in 1990, which is the latest year for which the required corrected statistics are available. This compares favourably with our EC partners. Belgium, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal had higher rates while the UK, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands had lower rates. The rate for Germany was the same as for Ireland.
On the basis of road deaths per 10 million vehicle kilometres of travel, Ireland's rate was 1.9 for 1990, the third lowest for the countries for which statistics are available.
The data in "Table 54: International Comparisons" of the ERU publication "Road Accident Facts: Ireland 1992" are incorrect in some respects; I am arranging to have a copy of the corrected statistics forwarded to the Deputy.
