Ten people lost their lives while cycling on Irish roads in 2020, according to data released by the Road Safety Authority.
This was an increase of two fatal collisions involving people cycling compared to 2019. Compared to the rate of deaths recorded each year, number of deaths of people cycling in 2020 was slightly above the 10-year average and slightly below the 20-year average.
The overall number of road traffic deaths among all road users increased between 2019 and 2020 from 140 to 149. Deaths of pedestrians also increased from 27 to 32; and motorcyclist deaths increased from 16 to 17. Deaths of passengers in motor vehicles increased from 15 to 26, while the number of deaths of drivers decreased by the same number, 11 deaths.
The following is a list of the fatal collisions involving people cycling in 2020:
- MARCH 6: A man was killed on the R639 in Co Cork just north of Rathcormac village at around 7am in a collision with the driver of a jeep.
- APRIL 27: 66-year-old Daniel Healy was killed in a fatal road traffic collision involving the man on his bicycle and a motorist driving a car in the morning after 8am in Co Kerry.
- JUNE 6: A man in his 60s was killed while cycling in Gowran, Co Kilkenny at around 3.45pm after a collision involving the man and a tractor driver.
- JUNE 25: A 10-year-old boy, Adam Lyons, died in hospital after a collision involving his bicycle and an SUV driver in Co Carlow.
- JUNE 26: A 17-year-old male driver of a car, Patrick Pio O’Reilly, and a male cyclist in his 30s, Saad Alwarfally, were both pronounced dead at the scene of a collision which happened at 12:15am on Friday 26th June 2020 on the Hyde Road in Limerick.
- AUGUST 30: Thiago Cortes died in hospital days after he was knocked down by a hit and run driver on North Wall Quay in Dublin on Monday August 30.
- SEPTEMBER 19: A man in his 40s was killed while cycling in a collision with a man driving a car just before midday on R108 road, in the St Margaret’s area, North County Dublin.
- OCTOBER 24: A man in his 60s on a bicycle has died in collision with a motorist driving a car in Co Cork in the evening.
- OCTOBER 25: A man in his 60s is understood to have died after falling off his bicycle in a single-vehicle collision at Glenville, Ballybrack on the R614 west of Watergrasshill.
- NOVEMBER 18: A man in his 40s, passed away in hospital days after what was believed to be a single vehicle collision at Sarsfield Street, Nenagh, County Tipperary.
Of the cycling deaths, 8 involved collisions with motorists. Of the motorists, 5 were driving cars, 1 driving a tractor, and 2 were driving what were described as an SUV or jeep, one of which was towing a horsebox. Two other deaths were understood to be single-vehicle collisions, involving only bicycles involved.
Half of the cycling deaths were on rural road and half on urban roads.