Events have been taking place across the country to mark World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
To date this year, 168 people have died on Irish roads, 35 more than in the same period last year. A special memorial ceremony took place in Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
John Maher performed "Remember Me" at the event in memory of his 21-year-old son Jonathan who died in a road collision in 2001.
Chairwoman of the Irish Road Victims Association Donna Price lost her 18-year-old son Darren in 2006 when he was killed instantly on his way to college in Athlone.
She said: "The heartbreak is always still there. Losing a child has to be every parent's worst nightmare.
"But to lose them in circumstances where their death could have been prevented, it makes that death even more difficult to bear if that were possible.
"It's not an incurable illness that has taken our loved ones from us. It's a road traffic collision.
"It's people not obeying the rules of the road and endangering others while they're out. Look at all these photographs, all these people whose lives were taken needlessly.
"We don't want more framed photographs. It has to stop."
Some 25,000 people have lost their lives on Irish roads since the recording of fatalities began in 1959.
Figures from the Road Safety Authority show that there were 43 pedestrians killed on Irish roads in 2022.
A spokesperson for the RSA said analysis for this year indicates that things are likely to be worse, with pedestrian fatality figures projected to be their highest in 15 years.
Margaret Kavanagh lost her daughter Janice aged ten in 1991 and Leo Lieghio lost 16-year-old Marcia in 2005.
Ms Kavanagh said: "Janice was killed by a drunk driver. The pain never goes away all these years later. It's with you first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It's hard to explain when you haven't been through it."
Mr Lieghio said the families that gathered for the event are in a club that he would not want anybody else to join.
He said: "We have seen road deaths reduce by half in recent decades but the last few years have been terrible. I don't know what's wrong with people. When Marsia was killed a man called to my door to say he'd been through the same experience and that time doesn't heal.
"He was right. Every birthday, every milestone, a song on the radio."
Emergency services were also acknowledged for putting their own lives at risk when they were first on the scene of road traffic collisions.
The Irish Road Victims Association joined the RSA in an appeal to change road user behaviour.
