Road deaths in Tipperary
The smallest county at the top of the worst table
In 2023, Tipperary recorded 16 road deaths — the highest of any county in Ireland, ahead of Dublin and Cork. It has a fraction of their population. This is the question that number forces, and the research we are doing to answer it.
Tipperary road deaths in 2023 — the most of any county.
More than doubled from 2022 to 2023.
People killed on Irish roads in 2023 — +19% on 2022, the highest toll since 2014.
The 2023 county table
| County | Road deaths, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Tipperary | 16 |
| Dublin | 15 |
| Cork | 15 |
| Galway | 13 |
| Mayo | 12 |
Source: Road Safety Authority provisional 2023 figures, reported 1 January 2024 (RSA; Irish Times; Tipperary Live; Ireland Live).
Why would a county this size be first?
Tipperary's population is roughly 160,000 (CSO Census 2022) — a fraction of Dublin's or Cork's — which makes its position at the top of the 2023 table disproportionate to its size. The large majority of Irish road deaths occur on rural roads. Tipperary is a large, predominantly rural county with an extensive network of single-carriageway regional (R) and local (L) roads.
Tipperary has one of the largest local-road networks of any county by length, with hundreds of river bridges (the Cahir-Cashel Municipal District alone records over 450 bridges). Where a road crosses a river on an old, narrow bridge, on a network with little lighting and little advance signage, the margin for a driver who does not know the road is small.
Source: CSO Census 2022 (population); RSA rural-road fatality data; Tipperary County Council district records (bridge counts).
What we are researching
Raw counts do not explain a pattern. We are assembling, from public sources only, the fuller picture:
- How many people have died on Tipperary roads in each of the last 30 years, and where?
- Which roads and junctions recur? Is fatality concentrated on specific R and L roads?
- How many fatal or serious collisions involve a bridge, parapet, river or water hazard?
- How does Tipperary's rate per head and per road-kilometre compare with neighbouring counties?
- What share of the network carries no lighting, no footway and no advance hazard signage?
- Where a location has a repeat history, was it ever funded for remediation?
Method. These questions are answered only from public sources — RSA and CSO statistics, published coroner and inquest reports, and news archives — geolocated to the road network. No individual is named. Nothing is stated as fact until a public source is held and cited. This is a standing research programme, not a one-off article.
This is a standing investigation. Findings are published as dated entries with their sources as they are confirmed. Where a figure is not yet held, it is shown as an open question, never guessed. Research in progress
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Last updated 2026-08-05. This is a living record — findings are added as dated entries and prior versions remain visible.