I probably took this picture a decade ago, just outside Kinvarra in Co. Galway. The National Roads Authority erected such signs around the country in an effort to get people to drive safely (the press release announcing their deployment dates from late 2001). The upper number on the sign listed the number of road deaths between 1997 and 2000 in Galway [a four year total], and the lower number (with the line through it) listed the number of road deaths between 1996 and 1999 for the county. In 2000, 415 people were killed on Irish roads and 2002 was the first year that the death toll fell below 400 per year¹, just as these signs were appearing on roadsides across Ireland. By the end of last year, the total number of deaths had nearly halved since 2000 – 186 in all (there doesn’t seem to be statistics available per county²). The warning signs have long disappeared – I’d forgotten about them until I came across the photo above.
Today is also the 45th anniversary of Dagen H (H Day), the day that drivers in Sweden switched to driving on the right-hand side of the road (Högertrafikomläggningen).