Ireland's ability to reduce road deaths is below average compared to other EU member states, according to a study of road deaths across Europe published by the European Commission.
Road deaths in the 25 member states fell on average by 14% between 2001 and 2004, while the fall in Ireland was only 8%.
France, for example, registered a 32% drop in fatalities, while Lithuania showed an increase of 7%.
The report is part of the European Commission's mid term review of its long-term policy of trying to halve the 50,000 annual road deaths across Europe by 2010.
The report says that speed and drink-driving are the still main problems in Ireland and it points to a lack of reliable data on the latter 'because of the testing regime'.
The report says that the penalty points system has led to an initial sharp reduction in speeding detections. But since then the 'novelty factor' appears to have worn off and there has been a slight increase in road deaths.
The European Commission says that more needs to be done at national and European level to reduce road deaths and that there is a widening gap between countries that are performing well and those that are performing poorly.
