Road death rate hike worst in Europe

IRELAND is bucking European trends in terms of falling road fatalities, while the North’s road deaths toll fell to its lowest figure in 50 years.

A total of 136 people died on the North’s roads last year, the lowest figure there since 1952, while a total of 399 people died on our roads last year, the highest figure since 2001.

Five people have died on the country’s roads so far this year, while figures released by the Garda Traffic Bureau yesterday showed that almost 1,300 people were arrested on suspicion of drink driving in the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day - a 14% increase on the same period in 2004.

The Automobile Association called for an increased all-year-round garda presence at pubs in a bid to cut the road carnage.

EU figures on road deaths, released late last year, showed a reduction of over 5% in the numbers killed on Europe’s roads in 2005 with dramatic declines in Spain, Latvia and Sweden, where road deaths fell to 1945 levels.

Despite high-profile road safety campaigns here, the number of deaths on Irish roads increased by 13% last year - the highest rate of increase in Europe.

The former chairman of the National Safety Council, Eddie Shaw, said promised Government measures to tackle road deaths are still falling short.

He said efforts to cut road accidents in the North were similar to those here, but added, “they are doing better because they are more focussed. They have placed more attention on it”.

Mr Shaw said that following the introduction of the penalty points system, “the whole momentum of investment was lost”.

“There is no doubt that there is a growing sense of urgency within the Department of Transport here, driven by the realisation that the last four years have been a disaster,” he said.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport said a raft of measures would be introduced this year to tackle the problem.

He said that up to 30 new offences would be added to the penalty points system in April, with “particular focus on driver issues, such as crossing the white line and overtaking”.

The spokesman said the time lag between the date of the offence and the offender being notified of it would be slashed when gardaí install a new system to speed up the process.

The spokesman added that the Department of Transport would be working with the Department of Justice to speed up the privatisation of speed cameras, allowing fixed and mobile speed cameras to be placed across the country, particularly at so-called ‘black spots’.

Driving test waiting times, meanwhile, will be addressed by the recruitment of more testers.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen is also looking at introducing practical driving and road safety classes in secondary schools, the spokesman said.