Police are dumbfounded as to why the road safety message isn't getting through.

It comes as 16 people have died on roads across the country in the past week.

National Road Policing Manager Superintendent Steve Greally said there are lots of people on the roads, all with busy lives.

"Our mind wanders, we could be thinking about a family issue, we could be thinking about the sport, we could be thinking about the job all of those things and really when we are driving there is only one thing to think about as a driver and that's the road ahead and who is on it."

Superintendent Greally said police are working hard to keep the roads safe.

"We'd rather people just took responsibility for their own destiny and actually just paid attention all of the time on the road, it only takes one second to slip up and it can be fatal and that's just a hell of a price to pay."