Galway’s two local authorities have launched a five-year road safety strategy aimed at cutting in half the number of serious injury and deaths from driving incidents by 2030.

On Tuesday at County Hall, representatives from both Galway County and City came together alongside the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Siochana to launch the Road Safety Strategy 2026-2030 for the 7,000km of public roadway spanning through the county.

The strategy outlines 50 actions for Galway’s road safety and safer road use, including enforcement.

Using the national Vision Zero approach, the goal paving the way for the strategy sees a 15pc decrease in deaths and serious injury by next year and 50pc decrease by 2030. Vision Zero aims to see an Ireland where there are no fatalities due to road unsafety.

Speaking during the launch, Galway County Council Chief Executive Liam Conneally said the importance of this road safety strategy stems from the stark reality that five out of 128 road accident deaths have occurred in Galway to date.

Data gathered by the councils show that 360 people were seriously injured from road accidents between 2021 and 2025, many of which occurred in zones with 80kmh speed limits. In the same time frame, 51 people were killed. One in five of those deaths were made up of young people aged 16 to 25.

Most serious injury or death in that time frame occurred between 12pm and 8pm.

“Behind every statistic is a person, a family and a community whose lives have been changed forever. As Galway continues to grow, creating a transport network that is safe and accessible for everyone is essential,” Galway City Mayor Helen Ogbu said.  “Whether we travel by car, bicycle, on foot or by public transport, we all have a role to play in preventing collisions and protecting lives.”

“We cannot engineer our way to safer roads through infrastructure alone, we also have to change behaviour,” she added.

“Lasting progress depends on strong partnerships, education, safer infrastructure and responsible behaviour from every road user,” Roads Policing Unit Inspector Adrian Queeney with the Galway unit said.

“An Garda Síochána will continue to target the behaviours that cause the greatest harm, including speeding, impaired driving, mobile phone use and seatbelt offences, while working with our partners to make Galway’s roads safer for everyone.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting scheme.