Young men from Donegal and Mayo 'disproportionately' represented in collisions, RSA says

AN RSA SPOKESPERSON said a “disproportionate number” of young male drivers are involved in collisions on rural roads, particularly along the west and north-western seaboard.

Tuesday’s death of a man following a single-vehicle crash in Co Wexford marked the seventh death on Irish roads in three days. The highest death toll occurred last Saturday when four people died after three separate collisions in Donegal and Dublin. 

Speaking to The Journal, RSA spokesperson David Martin said: “There’s a serious issue on the roads, and it continues to be a serious issue. Road fatalities are continuing to climb in the last number of years.”

Road deaths increased dramatically in 2025, with 190 people killed in 179 fatal collisions, marking the highest number of fatalities on Irish roads since 2014. Overall, 74% of those killed were male, with 26% female. Young people aged 16 to 25 remained the highest-risk age group.

As of 22 May there have been 66 fatalities on Irish roads – five more deaths compared to the same period in 2025.

‘Sense of invincibility’ 

Martin said young men aged in their 20s in counties like Mayo and Donegal are disproportionately represented in road traffic collision figures. 

“Due to their high populations, Dublin and Cork suffer a high number of road fatalities every year. However, less densely populated counties such as Mayo and Donegal experience disproportionately high numbers of fatalities.”

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RSA figures show that in 2024, the four counties with the highest number of fatalities were Dublin (23), Cork (19), Mayo (19) and Donegal (17).

“You’re seeing a disproportionate number of young male drivers on rural roads and that comes through in the map as well,” Martin said.

“Young lads in their twenties, typically driving, not on dual carriageways, but sort of rural roads, and we’re seeing way too many of those lads getting killed.”

Martin said young men have a “sense of invincibility” when it comes to collisions. “They can’t imagine that anything could possibly happen to them.”

“They have a false sense of how good they are on the roads, coupled with this male sense of invincibility. It’s a challenge.”

The RSA has launched a new interactive map identifying the location of road traffic injury collisions across Ireland between 2016 and 2024. 

Martin hopes the tool will allow the public to engage with road safety more easily and access information on collisions and where they are happening. 

The interactive map contains data on fatal, serious and minor injury collisions that occurred on public roads, and users will be able to filter the information by county, local authority area, year and collision severity.

The data is based on injury collision information collected by An Garda Síochána and will be updated annually as new data becomes available.

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