AS I SEE IT
MARIANNE HERON
An increase in disregard for drink-driving laws and less traffic safety enforcement by Gardaí have happened at same time as an increase in the number of fatal road traffic accidents. Hardly a coincidence, is it? Tragically the number of deaths on our roads rose last year to 184, up by more than 20%, while some other European countries, like Poland and Denmark, have reduced these sad statistics.
So often these sudden catastrophes cut short lives of young people, devastating families and local communities, begging the question as to what can be done to stop carnage which might have been avoided and where the figures for road deaths remain high year after year.
Too often these accidents happen at blackspots on local roads, like the crash where three young people died and a fourth was seriously injured on a notorious danger spot in Co. Carlow recently. Surely, as these dangerous stretches of road are known work should be carried out to rectify the problem as a matter of urgency or, at very least in the short-term, warning notices and reduced speed limits should be in place. A national blackspot remedy programme would make sense, instead of spending on yet more cycle lanes and those problematic pointless plastic poles that are infesting our roads.
There is no secret about the top causes of road accidents;. they are speeding, driver age and lack of experience and driving under the influence. Speeding doesn’t always mean breaking the speed limit, driving conditions call for lower speed, something where being an experienced driver must surely count. And it’s a combination of inexperience and risk- taking behaviour in young men, like speeding, drink driving and not wearing a seat belt, that make them most at risk of accidents.
There have already been 20 roads deaths by the end of January: that’s 20 too many but there are some initiatives to help reduce the causes of accidents in the pipeline.
The Government have introduced legislation to reduce speeds on national secondary roads from 100km to 80 and on secondary roads from 80 to 60, together with mandatory drug testing and closure of road safety loopholes. Education and awareness of road safety could help too, but the RSA (Road Safety Authority) had a €6m. request for extra funding for extra staff to counter road deaths refused last year. Maybe road safety booklets could include more information for drivers about risky conditions on the roads and better driver behaviour.
From my own observation of drivers over the years it seems to me that risky driving is most likely to happen on single lane local roads with a male behind the wheel. Statistics bear this out. Between 2018 and 2023 the highest number of deaths happened on rural roads, followed by regional roads while motorways are the safest. Men are more likely to be involved in fatal accidents, obviously partly because they drive more miles than women and are more likely to be the driver.
Short of suggesting that women should do the driving and that young men should be set lower speed limits (I don’t see either of those suggestions getting much support!), other possibilities might include randomly calling young drivers in for driving tests or having a look at what makes Swedish roads and drivers the safest.
The Swedish Transport Administration have a policy called Zero Vision aimed at zero road deaths and there is much stricter observance of drink-driving rules, and also drivers believe they are more likely to be checked.
But it isn’t just down to drivers, car manufacturers could play a part too. We already have cars which warn us to buckle up, indicate when there are freezing conditions. How about warning signals when the speed limit is being exceeded or something like a black box used in planes which would record driver behaviour and be checked by Gardaí just as road tax, insurance and NCT is checked. There could even be a score kept for good driving.
The motor industry can be slow to respond. Look how long it took them to make cars less easy to steal – they still seem more interested in marketing the acceleration from 0 to 100 kph.
The era of autonomous self-drive cars is just around the corner. It’s early days to know whether or not they are safer than human drivers. If they prove to be though, it might be time to let go of the steering wheel.
