Statement by Deputy Tommy Broughan and PARC Road Safety Group
Independent - Dublin Bay North
Friday, 26 January 2018
APPROX 2,400 EMERGENCY ADMISSIONS TO HOSPITALS DUE TO ROAD TRAFFIC COLLISIONS ANNUALLY - BROUGHAN

Deputy Broughan continues to try and ascertain the numbers of people being seriously injured on our roads following calls from cycling advocates and road safety groups such as PARC (Promoting Awareness Responsibility and Care on our Roads).  Earlier this week, in a press release on the matter, Deputy Broughan revealed that the Road Safety Authority’s figures on serious injury due to road traffic collisions (RTCs) were:
561 serious injuries in 2010; 
472 serious injuries in 2011;
474 serious injuries in 2012;
508 serious injuries in 2013;
755 serious injuries in 2014;
827 (provisional) in 2015;
936 (provisional) in 2016.

A reply from the RSA dated the 22nd of January 2018 which provided the data for 2015 and 2016 stated that “In over 90% of the cases, the injured person was recorded as being taken to hospital.”  Deputy Broughan has obviously also been asking the Department of Health for records on persons with serious injuries due to RTCs presenting at hospitals around the country.  A PQ reply provided to him on the 12 of February 2016, stated that the “categorisation of “serious injuries” is not recorded” on the Hospital Patient Enquiry (HIPE) system but instead provided data on the “number of emergency in-patient episodes with an external cause code of traffic accident”.  In 2012, there were 2,489; in 2013 there were 2,378; and in 2014 there were 2,550.  A PQ reply received today from the HSE, also provided a table identifying the number of emergency admissions between 2015 and 2016 “where the reason for emergency was related to road traffic accidents”.  In 2015 there were 2,317 with the highest numbers in Cork University Hospital (288), Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda (188) and Galway University Hospital (157).  In 2016, there were 2,347, this time with Drogheda having the highest figure of 250, Cork at 242 and University Hospital Limerick at 184. (The table in the PQ reply received today is provided below).

Ms Susan Gray of PARC says "Clearly the RSA has the chief responsibility to obtain, collate and present up-to-date and accurate data on serious injuries due to crashes (and particularly since the number of such injuries seems to be increasing)."

Deputy Broughan says “The PQ reply provided to me by the HSE again highlights our need for consistent and accurate data collection.  While I understand that Garda at the scene of a Road Traffic Collision are not qualified to determine the level of injury, it is very disappointing that our Hospital Patient Enquiry (HIPE) system doesn’t have a ‘serious injury’ categorisation.  These are not insignificant numbers presenting to our hospitals and reinforces my calls for data to inform policy and for a policy focus on serious injuries in RTCs.  Most worryingly, available data seems to indicate steadily rising serious injuries due to traffic crashes up to 2017.”

ENDS For more information contact Tommy Broughan at (01) 618 3557 or Susan Gray, PARC at 086-3773784