The first progress report of the high level group on road safety, was published in July 1999 and details progress with implementing the Government Strategy for Road Safety 1998-2002. Copies of the progress report have been circulated to all Deputies and are also available in the Oireachtas Library.
The report notes good progress in 1998-99 towards the primary target of the road safety strategy of reducing road deaths and serious injuries each by at least 20% by 2002: 3% fewer people died on the roads in 1998 than in 1997; 12% fewer people were seriously injured in 1998 than in 1997: this represents the lowest number of serious injuries for the last decade and constitutes significant progress towards the five year target of at least 20% reduction.
More recent provisional data from an Garda Síochána indicate that there were 413 road deaths in 1999 compared with 458 in 1998. This would represent a reduction of some 13% in road deaths relative to 1997 in the second full year of operation of the strategy.