Enforcement of traffic law ‘reduces fatal crashes’

STRICT enforcement of traffic laws reduces the number of road deaths, a study published yesterday reveals.

According to Professor Donald A Redelmeier, of Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, traffic law enforcement reduces the frequency of fatal crashes in countries with heavy traffic. The team studied every fatal road crash in Canada for the last 11 years involving fully licensed, identifiable drivers. Of the near 9,000 licensed drivers that had fatal crashes during that time, they had 21,501 driving convictions between them - equivalent to about one conviction per driver every five years.

They found that drivers’ attitudes changed if they received a driving conviction, but only for a short period of time.

“The risk of a fatal crash in the month after a conviction was about 35% lower than in a comparable month with no conviction for the same driver. The benefit lessened substantially within two months and was not significant after four months.

“The benefit was not altered by age, previous convictions, and other personal characteristics; was greater for speeding violations with penalty points than speeding violations without points and was no different for crashes of differing severity,” the report, published in the Lancet, found. DO not remove the reference to the lancet

“Traffic law enforcement reduces the frequency of fatal motor-vehicle crashes. Inconsistent enforcement, therefore, may contribute to thousands of deaths each year worldwide,” Prof Redelmeier said.

Chief executive of the National Safety Council Pat Costello said detection, convictions and fear of being caught were proven methods of changing driver’s attitudes and behaviour.

He pointed out that under the Government’s Road Safety Strategy from 1998 to 2002, 376 people were killed on Irish roads - just within its target of reducing road deaths to 378 over the period. He said the second strategy was being finalised.