Fatal road accidents in Northern Ireland increasing in 2019

There were 7 deaths on Northern Ireland roads in the month of July, taking the total number of fatalities as a result of road traffic accidents to 33; an alarming increase on the 28 deaths at this stage of 2018.

The statistics make for sad reading in light of increased efforts to tackle road safety issues in Northern Ireland, and highlight that more needs to be done to improve safety for all road users. A look at the statistics show that drivers are the group of road users that are most at risk as a result of road traffic collisions, with 16 deaths so far in 2019. Pedestrians are the next highest group with 8 deaths, and then passengers of vehicles involved in a crash with 7 fatalities. Two motorcyclists have also lost their lives on our roads this year.

There continues to be a predominantly male factor to road fatalities with 21 deaths of males compared to 12 females. Furthermore, of those 12 female fatalities the woman was only driving the principal vehicle in 5 of the incidents, with the majority of females dying as a result of being a passenger or a pedestrian involved in a road collision.

It is also noteworthy that nearly three quarters of the fatal accidents occurred on rural roads, and the areas with highest amount of fatal accidents are Antrim & Newtownabbey with 6 and Causeway Coasts & Glens with 5.

The PSNI maintains a road traffic collision daily fatal report which is available online and provides invaluable information to help better understand the dynamics of the road safety problem in Northern Ireland. It helps in the development of target strategies to improve road safety awareness but the number of deaths on our roads so far this year shows there is a great deal to be done.

The European Union feels that in-car technology that limits speed could result in a significant reduction of road accidents. It plans to make them compulsory on all new cars from 2022 and Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK might follow their lead regardless of the removal of any obligation to introduce the rules following Brexit.

If you have suffered injury or loss as a result of a road traffic accident and want to speak to a claims solicitor about how to recover loss of earnings, medical expenses, and other costs emanating from your injuries, contact one of our compensation experts by clicking here.