A new book has been launched which shows the impact on road safety by successive road traffic laws. ‘Road Traffic Law’, by solicitor Robert Pierse, offers a comprehensive guide to the Irish Road Traffic Acts from 1961 to 2011, and includes details of laws on dangerous driving and intoxicants, areas which have had a huge impact on road safety today.

Mr Pierse said that while road safety laws in Ireland had come a long way since 1961, there was still scope for a “consolidated Act that will bring in more innovative concepts and modern legislation”. Last year, deaths on Irish roads fell to 186, almost 40 years on from the highest figure in 1972, when 640 people were killed. During the same period, the number of vehicles trebled to 2.5m.