More than 23,000 people have lost their lives on Irish roads since records began over 50 years ago, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has said.

The records were started back in 1959 and up until November 17 of this year, 23,057 people had died. The RSA noted that this is ‘roughly the same size as the population of Tralee, Co Kerry'.

Commenting on the figures, the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, emphasised that behind every death ‘lies a traumatised family and a shattered community'.

Meanwhile, according to RSA chairman, Gay Byrne, people should ‘take a moment to think about their behaviour on the roads and the changes we all can make to keep our roads free from carnage'.

Minister Varadkar and Mr Byrne made their comments to coincide with World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims, which took place on November 20.