Road deaths at historic low but gardaí want more done

THE number of people killed on the nation’s roads fell to an historic low last year, but one of the country’s most senior traffic gardaí has said more work needs to be done to tackle speeding and drug-driving.

Gardaí confirmed that 240 people lost their lives on the nation’s roads last year – the lowest annual figure since records began in 1959 and a fall from 279 in 2008.

The Road Safety Authority welcomed the fall in the number of deaths, which is also almost 100 fewer than in 2007, but said it was vital the figure for this year be reduced further.

Chief Superintendent Gabriel McIntyre of the Garda National Traffic Bureau said much of the credit must go to the motoring public, who he said had shown a greater level of compliance with road safety.

“The road network has also improved and the biggest improvement that we see would be in the southeast region and southeast Leinster, with the Gorey and Arklow bypasses.”

However, while the number of road deaths fell by 16 in Dublin commuter counties, by 17 in Wexford and Waterford and by six in the border counties, Limerick and Galway saw an increase in road deaths last year.

According to Chief Supt McIntyre, more than half of the fatalities were the drivers of vehicles, and many were single vehicle crashes on secondary roads.

He said mobile speed cameras, one per county, would be rolled out from July, and that the opening of new roads, including the last stretch of motorway between Cork and Dublin, would help safety targets.

The new Road Traffic Bill, expected to come into law this year, will also give gardaí more powers regarding drug-driving. Chief Supt McIntyre said there had been a slight increase in the number of prosecutions for drug-driving in 2009.

Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy reaffirmed his commitment in 2010 to roads policing, “through enforcement and encouraging people to change their behaviour to make it a safer place for everybody”.