Ten counties managed to reduce the number of fatalities on their roads by more than 70% between 2007 and 2012, however, one county - Cavan - saw a 20% increase in fatalities during the same period, a new report has shown.

The report by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) looked at the performance of each county between 2007 and 2012 - the length of time of the government's last Road Safety Strategy.

It found that the top five performing counties in terms of reducing road fatalities were Leitrim, Laois, Kildare, Monaghan and Clare. The top two - Leitrim and Laois - achieved a 100% reduction in road deaths.

In 2007, seven people died on Leitrim roads, however this had fallen to zero by last year. In Laois, five people died in 2007 and this also fell to zero in 2012.

Tipperary, Carlow, Wicklow, Dublin and Donegal rounded off the top 10, as all achieved reductions in road fatalities of at least 70%.

However, the report found that in Offaly, there was no reduction in road fatalities during the period, while in Cavan, road deaths actually rose by 20%.

The third poorest performing county was Galway, which reduced road fatalities by just 17% in the period, followed by Cork, which saw a 32% reduction.

A total of 162 people lost their lives on Irish roads last year, compared to 186 in 2011 and 212 in 2010.

According to the RSA, the number of overall road deaths has fallen every year since 2006. The 2007-2012 Road Safety Strategy aimed to reduce road deaths to 252 per year by 2012. However, this figure was ‘achieved and surpassed three years ahead of schedule in 2009'.

The next Road Safety Strategy will cover the period 2013 to 2020. It will be launched later this year.

"The reduction in road deaths in nearly every county in Ireland shows just what can be achieved when communities come together and say, enough is enough, we don't want any more people dying on our roads," commented RSA chief executive, Noel Brett.

He thanked road users and the Gardai for helping to make Ireland ‘one of the best performing countries in the EU in terms of its own safety record'.

"If we all redouble our efforts in 2013, there is no reason why we can't make Ireland's roads the safest in the world," Mr Brett added.