Morning after a ‘high-risk period’ on roads
“The morning after was shown to be a particularly high-risk period — 11% of all fatal collisions occurred from 7am to 11am in which a driver had consumed alcohol,” said Velma Burns, from the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
The RSA and An Garda Síochána launched their annual Christmas road safety campaign yesterday, with data from November and December from 2008 to 2016. It showed alcohol is the number one contributory factor in road fatalities at this time.
In 38% of fatal crashes, alcohol was a contributing factor. Speed was the second contributing factor, with it being an issue in 33% of fatal crashes during the Christmas period.
The RSA’s data also showed that Sunday was the most common day for road fatalities with 21% of them happening on this day. From midnight to 6am was the most dangerous time on a Sunday.
Dublin, Cork and Galway were the most dangerous counties for driving and all three accounted for 32% of fatalities that occurred at this time.
In Dublin, 81% of fatalities happened on urban roads and in Cork, 87% occurred on rural roads.
Separate from alcohol and speeding, dangerous driving, road conditions and weather were the three other contributing factors in fatal crashes.
An Garda Síochána’s data correlated with that of the RSA’s — showing that about 50% of all arrests on the roads happened on a Saturday or Sunday.
In relation to the time of day, 36% of arrests occurred between midnight and 4am.
Both sets of data showed that while drivers accounted for 46% of all road users killed during the months of November and December, from 2008 to 2016, pedestrians represent over a quarter of fatalities.
Dark clothing was a contributing factor according to the RSA and this festive period 50,000 hi-vis jackets will be distributed by 4,000 publicans to their customers, to wear on their walk home from the pub at night.
Professor Denis Cusack from the Medical Bureau of Road Safety said the human body metabolises alcohol at its own predictable rate and no fizzy tablet can change this.
“The human body is a fantastic machine. No other machine lasts 60, 70, 80 or 90 years the way we do, but also we are human. One of the factors for the morning after if a person has drink or other drugs, there’s also fatigue, so you also end up with a lot of factors. As human we metabolise, we get rid of alcohol at a very predictable and set rate.
“That [the fizzy tablet] may make your headache go away. It might make you feel that little bit less fatigued but actually, the effects of the alcohol, once they are there, they’re the same for how you drive, for how you see things and how you’re reacting.
“So people shouldn’t be fooled and say: ‘I’ve got this new magic formula, I pop it in, it fizzes, I take.’ It may help the symptoms but it doesn’t actually help other things,” he warned.
Also speaking yesterday was Transport Minister Shane Ross and he urged people to make sure they were not responsible for an “empty seat” at anyone’s dinner table this Christmas.
“Please, I urge people to think of their own behaviour on the roads over this Christmas period and ensure that another family does not have to face the festive season without a loved one. Just remember that empty seat at the table could be as a result of your decision and actions,” he said.
Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael Finn said extra checkpoints will begin from today nationwide.
Road tolls
- There have been 143 road deaths in Ireland since the start of 2017.
- 7,428 drivers have been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving so far this year.
- From January to now, 29,125 vehicles have been seized by An Garda Síochána.
- There have been 118,585 speeding detections since the start of the year.
- 9,128 have been caught not wearing their seatbelt since January last.
- An Garda Síochána have detected 22,658 cases where drivers were operating a vehicle while using a mobile phone.
