Vital Road Crash Data Should Be"Flowing" To Kildare County Council After Years of Delay, Says Local TD

The data is vital for identifying patterns when there are serious injuries as a result of road incidents.

Junior Transport Minister and Kildare North TD James Lawless said vital road crash data should be "flowing" to Kildare County Council.

He said an order was signed last month to ensure Kildare County Council has access to the data.

Data has not been shared with the council for years due to issues around GDPR.

Speaking to Kfm, Deputy Lawless said the the data should be "flowing now if not already".

Numerous councillors have raised concerns that the council's roads engineering department do not know what improvements are needed on local roads without access to the data, particularly around identifying patterns when there are serious injuries as a result of road incidents.

Kfm has contacted Kildare County Council for comment.

With regard to the RSA, Deputy Lawless said it would be good practice for the RSA to review what it does and what it should be doing going forward.

He said any gaps in engineering should be addressed.

He made the remark after it was highlighted last week that the RSA does not have any road engineers.

Speaking at a recent Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting, Michael Rowland, Director of Research Standards and Assurance with the RSA, said the organisation's main remit is education and awareness.

However, Deputy Lawless said engineering know-how is very important.

He said he is expecting a review of the RSA to land on his desk before the end of summer.

He said he will "certainly be looking" at the engineering side of things and whether or not that needs to be addressed.

Meanwhile, a man in his 80s has died in a road crash in Co Westmeath.

He's the fourth person to die in a crash on the roads in the space of 12 hours.

The latest road crash happened on the R394 at Gartlandstown in Castlepollard at around half past 5 this morning - involving two cars.

A man in his 80s, who was a passenger in one of the cars, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A woman in her 60s, who was the driver, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Two men, aged in their 20s and 30s, who were in the other car were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

It follows the death of a man in his 50s who died in a single-vehicle crash on the R395 at Teevrevagh in Castlepollard at around 20 to 7 yesterday evening.

A woman in her 40s and her 8-year-old daughter were killed when their car hit a lorry at Foxford in Co Mayo, just before 6pm yesterday.

It brings to 97, the number of people who've been killed on Irish roads so far this year, an increase of 12 people compared to the same time last year.