IRELAND // Better police enforcement, a five-year road safety strategy that has been in place since 2007, and an overall improvement in driver attitudes to road safety and drink driving have been partly attributed to a fall in road deaths in Ireland for 2009. Last year, 241 people lost their lives on Irish roads, the lowest figure since record-keeping began in 1959. 2005 was one of the worst years on record with 397 deaths. The target of the five-year strategy was 252 deaths a year by 2012 and Brian Farrell, spokesperson for the Road Safety Authority says that it is important that complacency doesn't set in and Ireland must now push to become one of the safest countries in Europe. "What we have achieved in 2009 is remarkable, but we can save more lives," says Farrell. "There are countries with better road safety records than ourselves and we have to aim for that. We can become one of the safest countries in Europe if we continue what we are doing."
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