Labour calls for monthly reporting on road traffic collisions
Labour transport spokesperson Duncan Smith said it is ridiculous that data on road traffic collisions is not published on a monthly basis.
With a 13% increase in road deaths recorded last year, Deputy Smith said data is needed to inform transport policy and protect drivers against potential accident blackspots on our roads.
Deputy Smith said:
“Labour is calling on the Road Safety Authority to be mandated to publish data on road traffic collisions in order to better inform Ireland’s transport strategy and ultimately to protect drivers and save lives.
“Data on road collisions is available on a month basis, but the RSA stopped publishing it here in 2016, seemingly for no reason at all.
“2022 was a very dark year for our roads with a 13% rise in road deaths recorded, and this trend is continuing into 2023. The RSA reported 11 fatalities on our roads during the East Bank Holiday over the last 5 years. Having real time information about serious incidents and accident blackspots would be vital to try and tackle particularly dangerous areas.
“In Parliamentary Questions put down by the Labour Party, the Minister responded by saying the data is withheld for GDPR reasons – this is just a cop out. It is absolutely in the public interest to have this information available.
“Labour has consistently called on Minister Ryan to commit to addressing a range of outstanding road safety issues, including a review of speed signage and limits, particularly on country and rural roads where we know anecdotally that the majority of accidents occur.
“We need to move away from anecdotes, however, and introduce evidence-based policy measures for drivers. This data could also be utilised by the Gardaí to plan their patrols and placements of speed cameras better. Minister Ryan can’t sit back while road traffic incidents rise and rise. The RSA must commit to publishing this data on a month basis so that all drivers arrive alive.”
ENDS
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For Written Answer on : 18/04/2023
Question Number(s): 317 Question Reference(s): 17620/23
Department: Transport
Asked by: Ivana Bacik T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Transport if he will provide an update on the Road Safety Authority’s review of road traffic collision data-sharing policies and procedures in light of GDPR requirements.
REPLY
As the Deputy is likely aware, road traffic collision data are compiled by An Garda Síochána and then exchanged with other road safety stakeholder agencies. My Department, the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána are currently engaged in a process to review the legislative basis for this data sharing and to update this if required. This is being done in consultation where appropriate with the Data Protection Commissioner. This review is ongoing and I hope to be in a position to update the Deputy on the outcome in the near future.
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For Written Answer on : 08/09/2022
Question Number(s): 233 Question Reference(s): 42987/22
Department: Transport
Asked by: Ivana Bacik T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Road Safety Authority has not published any data on road traffic collisions since 2016; if his Department has a role in requesting that such information is published; and, if so, when up-to-date data will be made available.
REPLY
I am advised that in light of GDPR requirements, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is currently reviewing their road traffic collision (RTC) data sharing policies and procedures.
As a result, individual record-level data cannot be shared until this review is concluded over the coming months, following which the RSA expect to implement revised policies and procedures to permit GDPR compliant access to relevant RTC data.
In the meantime, for information I understand that the RSA has published provisional aggregated data (for the years 2017-2019), and reports (up to 2021) on their website. These can be accessed using the links below:
Five-year trend analysis of fatalities and serious injuries, 2017-2021: https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/road-safety/r2—statistics/road-collision-annual-reports/five-year-trend-analysis-of-fatalities-and-serious-injuries-2017-2021.pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=64d849b9_3
Provisional fatality statistics 2021: https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/road-safety/r2—statistics/provisional-reviews/provisional-fatality-statistics-2021794af424f47649b3a43080655849f0a0.pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=b7cc7581_5
Motorcyclist spotlight report: fatalities and serious injuries, 2016-2021: https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/road-safety/r2—statistics/motorcyclist-spotlight-report-fatalities-and-serious-injuries-2016-2021.pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=a2e93cbc_3