Conference says CCTV can change driver behaviour

The behaviour of drivers on the road can be changed by speed cameras, Garda enforcement and advertising campaigns, a conference will hear today.

The National Safety Council is hosting the International Road Safety Conference in Dublin with experts from France, Finland, Netherlands, Britain and Australia.

Spokesman Brian Farrell said: “Road deaths are not something we should accept as an inevitable consequence of driving.

"This is an opportunity for us to see what other countries have done and to map out where we want to go ourselves.”

The sociologist Jean Pierre Cauzard will explain how France reduced its horrendous level of road deaths.

After a national campaign led by President Jacques Chirac and increased road safety enforcement, the number of roads deaths in France fell from 8,000 per year to 6,500 per year within a 12 month period.

An Australian speaker, Ray Shuey will explain how speed cameras can improve road safety when they are not perceived by the public to be revenue raising machines.

The number of people who have died on the roads this year has reached 174, including 22 this month.

Other speakers will include Assistant Garda Commissioner Tony Hickey and National Roads Authority project engineer Finbar Crowley.