Road users have been urged to watch out for motorcyclists as part of a safety campaign.

The Road Safety Authority's August Bank Holiday campaign also calls on motorcyclists to "bike safe".

20 motorcyclists died on Irish roads in 2017, with five fatalities happening in the last six days of July.

The Chief Executive of the RSA said that while most bikers behave responsibly, there are some who are riding motorbikes with complete disregard for their own safety and the safety of others.

"Bikers who put on their helmet and think they are on a race track - I would urge these motorcyclists to ease off the throttle," Moyagh Murdock said.

She added that people should "never ever ride a motorbike after drinking alcohol".

Stephen Murphy, an instructor with the RSA, said there are four "killer areas" for motorcyclists: overtaking a line of traffic unaware that there is a car turning right at the front; overtaking into oncoming traffic; taking bends too fast, particularly left hand bends; and motorists coming out of junctions without checking for motorcyclists.

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Assistant Garda Commissioner David Sheahan said bikers can reduce their vulnerability by wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment with high visibility clothing and riding with their dipped headlights on.

According to the RSA, seven motorcyclists have been killed on the roads so far this year.

Sunday is the most dangerous day for motorcyclist fatalities.

This year is on course to be another relatively safe one on Irish roads - a total of 87 people have died in crashes in 2018, down by six compared to the same period last year.

158 people were killed during 2017 - the lowest annual number recorded since the 1920s.

The peak for road traffic fatalities was in 1978 when 628 people were killed.

There were only 638,740 private cars on the road then compared to 2,026,977 last year.

This means the fatality rate is now 12 times lower than it was in 1978.