The survey was conducted by Sixt Rent a Car Ireland, one of the largest car rental companies in this country. The dominant factor with visiting tourists is the side of the road they are used to driving on.

Drivers from right-hand American drivers accounted for 16% of rental days and 35% of accidents, and this compares unfavourably to drivers from left-handed drivers from Australia, who accounted for 5% of rental days and 5% of accidents.

The road safety initiative, backed with in-vehicle prompting and largely aimed at drivers who do not normally drive on the left, has been rolled out by Sixt Rent a Car Ireland.

“The programme has been a spectacular road safety success. In a period of over 250,000 days, it has resulted in an unprecedented decrease in accidents and serious injuries,” according to Trevor Toner, Sixt’s Operations Director.

The frequency of serious claims per 100,000 rental days has declined from over six per cent in 2014 to below three per cent in 2015, he added, and these findings have been confirmed by Zurich, one of the world’s major car insurance companies.

“The success of the programme has attracted worldwide interest, even from as far away as the New Zealand Department of Transport. The programme places a large emphasis on driver education at a number of key points during the rental cycle. In particular, every high risk driver must review a six point safety card with his or her rental agent as part of the rental process.”

Mrs Kay Loughran, founding director of South County Self Drive Ltd (t/a Sixt Rent a Car since 2012) with her husband and CEO Bernard Loughran, and Trevor Toner, Operations Director at Sixt Rent a Car Ireland. For further info visit www.sixt.ie