That is, more than 100 people a year were dying on our roads during a time when we had a smaller population, fewer drivers, fewer vehicles, and fewer kilometres being travelled than we do now. The worst year, 1971, saw 130 road deaths recorded.

The shocking figures illustrate why such measures were adopted as the compulsory wearing of seatbelts and drink-driving laws, along with their enforcement. And they worked, with the road toll driven steadily down, reaching a low of 32 in 1997.

We didn't, however, see a better year on our roads until 2010, when there were 30 deaths, and over the last decade we've only seen a lower road toll than this in two years; the lowest being 2011 when 24 people died.

Last year, we lost 36 lives, seven more than the year before, in spite of all the lockdowns and event cancellations, which you might have expected to have had an impact.

Understandably, there is frustration over this increase, and more generally over the apparent lack of improvement in our road toll. Yet it is important to also take a longer view; to consider trends rather than only measuring one year against another.

The average for the past decade of 32.1 deaths a year compares favourably to the 48 deaths a year recorded from 2001 to 2010, and obviously to the darker days of the past.

Criticism aside, it seems the efforts to save lives on our roads are delivering results.

That said, every death is an avoidable tragedy, and, along with every serious injury, comes at a cost to those impacted and to the wider community.

We can't rest on our laurels, and nor are we about to see another "silver bullet" that, like seatbelts and drink-driving laws, will cause a dramatic fall in road trauma.

Arguably, until we take ourselves out of the equation, improvements will mostly be found through changing behaviour on and around our roads; through doing all that we can to avoid making mistakes and through looking out for the mistakes of others.

Road safety should be the subject of an ongoing public discussion, but we shouldn't lose sight of how far we've come.

What do you think? You can have your say by sending us a Letter to the Editor using the form below.