THE FACT OF THE MATTER
BY PAUL HOPKINS
Out walking the other day, I spotted a local man I know by sight. Just before Covid on December 27, 2019, having drunk 15 pints throughout St Stephen’s night, this man knocked down a younger man walking home from celebrations. He was jailed for five-and-a-half years.
In evidence, the driver said he had no memory of getting into his van to drive home in the early hours of that morning. He did go to the Gardaí later that day after finding his vehicle damaged and heard that a man had been injured in a hit-and-run.
The victim, described by family as a “shy boy who loved life”, died seven months later after suffering catastrophic brain injuries. He never regained consciousness. And his family came to the heartbreaking decision to switch off life support.
The local man I know by sight served his full five-and-a-half years. His victim was gone at 28.
I mention this because research by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) shows that, in the last 10 years, for every one road death there were nine serious injuries – brain damage, amputation, organ failure, PTSD. As I write, there have been 111 road deaths this year – Glen Hansard was the 13th motorcyclist – making for potentially 1,000 serious injuries, serious enough to lead to turning off life support in many cases. Decisions made by loved ones, a future life spent lending total support. All lives changed utterly, but we seldom think of them.
It happens every day.
The reasons behind road fatalities are varied. Alcohol, no seat belt, unroadworthy vehicle, lack of proper visibility, lack of due concern for good road manners, lack of anticipation are to blame, but speed is still the biggest culprit.
Most fatalities do not take place on our motorways but rather on our rural roads and in built-up towns. Drink is responsible for one in eight accidents but speed for one in four. Two in three of us have done and do exceed the speed limit on secondary roads. A pedestrian hit at 35kph has a 97.5 per cent chance of survival; at 50kph that goes down to 50 per cent; and at 60kph there is only a 10 per cent chance of surviving.
Fatalities can be higher in rural areas because of the speeding involved and also the time it can take for an ambulance to reach a remote spot. It’s called The Golden Hour — you have a greater chance of survival if the ambulance gets you to hospital in the first hour after an accident.
One positive outcome has been that, since its inception in 2012, Ireland’s Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) has become a vital component of the country’s emergency response. Operated by the National Ambulance Service (NAS), the service has evolved into a highly co-ordinated airborne medical lifeline, particularly for patients in remote or rural areas. The HEMS fleet in Ireland is primarily composed of an Air Corps-operated AW139 helicopter, based at Custume Barracks in Athlone and supported by Irish Coast Guard aircraft when needed. According to the 2025 retrospective analysis, the Irish HEMS received 8,392 mission requests between 2012 and 2023.
That said, we still urgently need better rural roads and even better signposting, safer cars, stricter speed limits and consistent law enforcement. But we also need to be vigilant and aware. Smartphone office meetings while driving are dangerously distracting – from being aware of a child’s ball running onto a road, the amber light flashing or the cyclist in front to that e-scooter coming over the hill.
The Government’s e-scooter ‘crackdown’ seems somewhat ill-thought-out and filled with uncertainties. Ministers have made vague threats and sounded warnings but few of us are any wiser. Owners and users of e-scooters, as well as retailers, may indeed find it hard to identify aspects of the legislation when it comes to the myriad mentions of registration, licensing, insurance, fines, prosecutions, confiscations and the rest.
This month will see the regulatory requirement for e-scooter users to wear helmets and hi-vis jackets. Where the Gardaí stand in giving chase if needed, implementing the law or assessing someone’s age remains to be seen. And now the spanner in the works as Insurance Ireland says “no firm will offer cover because of the lethal nature” of the scooters.
Meanwhile, let’s hope we can save further casualties and stop another 1,000 lives being changed forever. We need to switch gears on our attitude to driving … and put a brake on the mayhem.
