More people have died on Irish roads in 2020 than at the same point last year, despite a significant drop in traffic volume during the spring and in recent weeks, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.
In the first 11 months of 2019, there were 125 deaths on Irish roads.
But during the same period this year there were 136 deaths, according to the latest transport bulletin from the CSO.
There were 12 deaths in November, despite Level 5 restrictions – up one from the same month last year.
Traffic volumes for most of this year have been dramatically down on 2019.
In the last week of November, there were nearly 40 per cent fewer vehicles on the roads in regional locations than during the same week last year, and 37 per cent lower in Dublin.
And during the height of the first lockdown, between the end of March and early May, they were 70 per cent lower than 2019.
However, the newly released statistics also show car traffic volumes rose for four weeks in a row during the recent Level 5 restrictions.
For the last full week of the lockdown, they rose by about 3 per cent across the country.
