More than four out of five serious cycling collisions in Ireland occur during daylight hours on straight roads.
That single finding from a new RSA report demolishes the growing political push for mandatory hi-vis.
What the RSA Report Found
Key Takeaways
- 81% of serious injuries in daylight, 83% on straight roads
- 265 serious injuries in 2025 (up 20% from 2024), 14 deaths (highest since 2017)
- 69% involved a car or van, 11% were hit-and-runs
- 52% of injuries in Dublin, 48% at junctions
- 3,305 hospital admissions vs far fewer in official Garda records
The RSA published its Cyclist Spotlight Report in 2026, covering fatalities and serious injuries from 2021 to 2025 in Ireland.
81% of serious cyclist injuries happened during daytime. 79% occurred between 8am and 8pm, with the worst window, 4pm to 8pm, accounting for 31% alone.
83% of those collisions took place on straight roads. Straight, clear roads in broad daylight, where every cyclist should be plainly visible.
The trend line is moving in the wrong direction. Serious cycling injuries jumped over 20% in a single year, from 213 in 2024 to 265 in 2025. Fourteen cyclists died on Irish roads in 2025, the highest toll since 2017 and double the figure from 2022.
69% of serious injuries involved multiple vehicles, and 88% of those involved a car or van. Hit-and-runs accounted for 11%. Single-vehicle incidents, where a cyclist crashed without another vehicle involved, made up just 20%. The overwhelming majority of harm comes from motor vehicles striking cyclists.
Dublin bore the brunt geographically, accounting for 52% of all serious cycling injuries. Nearly half, 48%, happened at junctions, particularly T-junctions and crossroads. The demographic profile skewed heavily male (78%) and working-age (55% aged 26-55), with collisions peaking between May and September.
A separate RSA hospital study found 3,305 cyclists admitted between 2020 and 2024, significantly exceeding Garda collision records. The true scale of cycling injuries is far larger than official statistics reflect.
The Hi-Vis Debate the Data Undermines
While the RSA report laid out these facts, a parallel political movement has built momentum around making cyclists wear hi-vis.
In January 2026, the Department of Transport announced it was considering mandatory helmets and hi-vis for cyclists, e-bike riders, and e-scooter users, with police empowered to fine those who did not comply. The backlash was swift. Tanaiste Simon Harris publicly contradicted the proposal within 24 hours.
But the idea refused to die. In February, NBRU assistant general secretary Thomas O’Connor told the Oireachtas that “mandatory hi-vis clothing will save us,” framing the issue from a bus driver’s perspective. By May, a Co. Clare councillor was calling for EUR 120 fines for anyone caught in public without hi-vis. Not just cyclists, but anyone. Tipperary councillors separately lobbied the Transport Minister for similar legislation.
The Irish Cycling Campaign accused the government of “upending decades of established risk-management practice and putting yet another barrier in the way of healthy, safe, sustainable transport.”
If 81% of cycling collisions in Ireland happen in daylight on straight roads, the problem is not that drivers cannot see cyclists. They can see them. They are hitting them anyway.
The international evidence backs this up. Italy introduced a mandatory hi-vis law for cyclists, and a nationwide study found zero reduction in collisions. A randomized trial found no safer passing distance for cyclists in hi-vis versus normal clothing. Cycling UK’s evidence review concluded there is “very little convincing evidence” that hi-vis impacts cyclist safety.
Dr. Marc Green, a visibility and human factors researcher, has argued that what matters is not clothing but “cognitive conspicuity,” the degree to which drivers expect to encounter cyclists based on road design.
Why It Matters: Infrastructure, Not Clothing
The countries with the safest cycling in Europe did not get there by dressing their citizens in neon. The Netherlands and Denmark have the lowest cyclist fatality rates on the continent. Neither mandates hi-vis.
Everyday Dutch and Danish cyclists ride in office clothes, sundresses, and jeans. What separates these countries from Ireland is not rider behavior. It is road design.
Their approach is boringly effective: segregated cycle tracks, 30 km/h speed zones in urban areas, and junction designs that physically separate turning vehicles from crossing cyclists. They engineered the danger out of the road, rather than asking vulnerable road users to engineer it out of their wardrobe.
The pattern extends beyond Europe.
⚠️ In the US, 1,166 cyclists were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2023, according to NHTSA. 81% of those deaths occurred in urban areas, and roughly half happened in daylight. The US has no mandatory hi-vis law, yet the same factors dominate: speed, failure to yield, and roads designed without cyclists in mind.
Ireland has leaned on individual protective equipment while infrastructure lags behind. Most urban cycling routes consist of painted lines on busy roads, offering no physical protection. Meanwhile, daily cycling in Dublin is up 50% in two years according to the National Transport Authority. More riders plus the same roads equals more casualties.
The RSA data paints an unambiguous picture. Cyclists are struck in broad daylight, on straight roads, by drivers in cars and vans. The problem is not what cyclists are wearing. It is the roads they ride on and the vehicles they share them with.
For every cyclist killed on Irish roads, 28 more sustain serious injuries. Those are not abstract numbers. They are broken collarbones, shattered pelvises, traumatic brain injuries, and lives permanently altered.
The question for policymakers is straightforward: can we start building the roads that would actually keep them alive?
