There has been an 8% increase in the number of road deaths so far this year, with 93 people having died as a result of crashes.

New figures from the Gardaí and the Road Safety Authority show that half of the fatalities happened at the weekend, with 20% – or 19 deaths – between midnight and 6am on Sundays.

The county with most road deaths is Cork, with 17 people killed. The Cork figure is almost double the next highest counties of Tipperary and Limerick – both of which had nine people killed in crashes.

The Road Safety Authority predicted that if the current trend continues, up to 80 more people could die before the end of this year.

Maggie Martin from the Road Safety Authority, said the weekend was clearly the most dangerous time on the roads.

“Saturday and Sunday, there is a 21% increase in deaths. People need to be particularly careful when you’re out in the early hours of the morning at the weekends,” she said.

She added that seven drivers and four passengers were definitely not wearing a seatbelt when they were killed in crashes.

“Potentially that is 11 lives that may have been saved had they been wearing their seatbelt,” said Ms Martin.

The majority of deaths were drivers, accounting for 43 fatalities, followed by 18 passengers, 16 pedestrians, 11 motorcyclists and five cyclists.

Furthermore, 543 people have been arrested on suspicion of drink driving since the start of July.

That’s up 17% on the same time last year.

Nearly a third of all drivers who died in road crashes between 2008 and 2012 had been drinking.

Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid from the Garda Traffic Bureau says they are mounting a new targeted approach to drink driving this summer that focuses on high risk areas.