Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 January 2026
797. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Transport the position regarding any initiatives proposed to target road safety messages at the 16–25 year old age bracket following statistics published by the RSA that outline that this cohort is statistically the most at risk of death or serious injury on Irish roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2357/26]
View answerIn 2025, 38 young people aged between 16 and 24 lost their lives on our roads. This included 19 drivers, 11 passengers, 4 cyclists, 3 motorcyclists and 1 e-scooter user. The RSA recognises the importance of targeting young people and in that regard it has developed advertising and awareness campaigns specifically designed for this age cohort. It also targets this cohort through campaigns that focus on various road user types including drivers, cyclists, motorcylcists and e-scooter users.
The current national framework for road safety is set out in the Government’s fifth Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. The Strategy was launched in December 2021 and follows international best practice, aligns with EU and UN targets, and is based on the Safe Systems approach. The Strategy has the target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 50% this decade, and to achieving Vision Zero—as close as possible to no deaths or serious injuries on Irish roads—by 2050.
The Phase 2 Action Plan 2025-2027 was published on 16 July. This next phase of the Road Safety Strategy identifies 12 primary actions that are transformative in nature and which are themed across the overarching, internationally recognised safe systems approach. Each of these actions will be delivered through partnership and collaborative working with a range of road safety stakeholders.
Primary Action 9c specifically addresses the expansion of road safety education programmes to bring sustained interventions for young people from primary school through to third level. The new Road Safety Matters transition year programme was piloted during the 2024-2025 academic year and exceeded expectations, with the RSA successfully delivering training to teachers from almost 140 schools nationwide, representing over 12,700 students. I am informed by the RSA that in 2026 it aims to complete a national rollout to all 730 post-primary schools offering TY, expand the teacher capacity with new Professional Learning sessions in Q1 and Q3 2026, host an award programme specifically for participants of the programme, and rebrand and tailor the programme for Youthreach, ensuring inclusive, relevant road safety education across diverse learning settings. I am also informed that in 2026 the RSA aims to scale its Junior Cycle Road Safety Education (13 to 16 year olds) with a view to launching a national rollout for the 2026/2027 academic year.
In addition, in 2025 the RSA launched its new third-level education initiative, engaging students at 62 campus events and reaching approximately 8,955 young people nationwide. The programme’s mission is to empower 17–24-year-olds to make safer road choices by embedding road safety into everyday student life. In 2026, the RSA will proactively re-engage every third-level campus in Ireland and roll out a new phase of student-led road safety communications. It is intended that the provision of customisable, on-brand toolkits will equip student unions and societies to drive impactful messaging during Freshers' Week, exams, holidays, and key seasonal moments.
In 2025, the RSA also delivered major activations across festivals and large scale events creating significant visibility and public awareness of road safety. This included attendance at events such as Electric Picnic, All Together Now and Kaleidoscope. Through these activations the RSA directly engaged the public by conducting almost 50,000 breath tests, sparking important conversations around drink and drug driving. The RSA is planning on increasing visibility at festivals and major concerts during summer 2026.
Building on the work completed in 2025, this year the RSA will run a number of TV and video-on-demand campaigns to target the 16–25-year-old cohort. The RSA has enhanced its digital activity and youth partnerships to enable them to more effectively reach this cohort and targets specific audiences across a number of mediums, using specific platforms to target specific audiences, such as Snapchat, TikTok and podcasts.
Finally, the RSA hosted its inaugural Road Safety Youth Forum in April 2024, as a space for young people to discuss their common road safety concerns. The group consists of 20 young people aged between 12-23 years with representatives from rural and urban areas nationwide. The next meeting is taking place in February 2026 with new members joining the Committee.
