Call for more traffic gardaí

THE National Safety Council yesterday urged drivers to take more responsibility following a weekend of carnage on the roads.

Sixteen people have died in accidents since Thursday, compared to 20 fatalities for the entire month of May last year. NSC chief executive Pat Costello said: “We are particularly concerned about motorcyclists and we would call for changes that will require all motorcyclists to undertake an advanced training course.”

More than 20 motorcyclists have been killed or seriously injured this year. It is understood Transport Minister Seamus Brennan will now up the minimum age for motorbike riders from 16 to 18 years, but Mr Costello has also called for more gardaí to patrol roads. He said: “We know the gardaí can’t be everywhere, and safety is a combination of all agencies working together, but we would like to see more of them on the roads.”

Three people were killed in road accidents on Monday night, the latest victim being motorcyclist Kenneth Neilson, 29, from Hilltown Park, Swords. He died after his bike collided with a car in Swords, Co Dublin, just after midnight. Mr Neilson was the victim of a hit and run and a grey Ford Fiesta involved in the collision was abandoned at the scene.

Two other men in their 20s died in Co Westmeath when their car collided with a lorry on the Moate-Ballymore road around 12 miles from Athlone. The weekend garda road safety initiative, Operation Taisteal, involved more than 5,500 checkpoints and ran from Friday until Monday night.

Road deaths since last Thursday include nine men in their 20s, two men in their late 30s, one 18-year-old woman, a 54-year-old man, a 12-year-old and a boy aged seven. The male driver of a car involved in a fatal collision outside Killarney on Thursday night also died on Sunday.

Fine Gael Transport spokesperman Denis Naughten said the deaths result from the Government’s failure to patrol the roads.

“The tragic return to increased numbers of deaths on our roads follows the pattern that was seen in Britain when penalty points were introduced there,” Mr Naughten said. “The same is now happening here because the minister is not prepared to fund the enforcement of the new system he has introduced.”

With nine deaths at the weekend, the toll was more than three times last year’s, despite a major garda clampdown on speeding. More than 18,000 motorists have received penalty points since the system began last year.