Government criticised over mounting road deaths

The Government has failed to introduce key road safety measures despite the rising death toll on the state’s roads, it was claimed today.

Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael’s spokeswoman on transport, queried the Government’s reluctance to introduce random breath testing with the latest figures showing 10 people had died in collisions since Friday.

“The threat of random breath testing is a proven way of improving driver behaviour,” Ms Mitchell said.

“Minister (Martin) Cullen has long claimed that he cannot introduce random breath testing because of advice from the Attorney General, even though breath testing is a key road safety strategy.”

Ms Mitchell said granting gardai powers to carry out completely random breath testing would have civil liberty implications but other countries had overcome this problem by providing safeguards.

Around eight separate road crashes have claimed 10 lives in the past four days.

The spate of accidents occurred in counties – Donegal, Limerick, Laois, Louth, Longford, Galway and Dublin.

The crash in Co Longford today which claimed a man’s life sent the road death toll spiralling to 353 deaths so far this year.

A 58-year-old male driver was fatally injured when his vehicle left the road at around 9am today at Terlicken, Ballymahon.

A 12-year-old boy was killed crossing a road near Woodpark, Castleconnell in Limerick around 10pm last night.

The young boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gardai have named the two men and one women killed after their car collided with a truck in Stradbally, Co Laois over the weekend.

Husband and wife Nicole and Patrick Kelly, both aged 70 years, and from Drum Road, Summerhill, Co Roscommon died in the accident at Money Cross at 10.40am on Saturday. New York man, 71-year-old Andrew Bealin, a cousin of Mr Kelly, was also killed in the crash. The driver of the lorry was not injured.

A 28-year-old man was killed trying to cross the busy N4 road near the junction with the M50 motorway on the outskirts of Dublin last night.

Arum Khanna, who was originally from India but living in Drumgeely, Co Clare , had just got out of a car and was trying to make it to the other side of the road when he was struck by a bus at around 8pm.

A man in his late 40s was killed in a single-vehicle crash at Letterkenny, Co. Donegal at 12.30am on Sunday. The man, who was a passenger in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene and three other people were treated for minor injuries.

A 20-year-old, a 21-year-old woman and a man in his 40s were also killed in separate accidents in Co Louth, Co Galway and Co Dublin on Friday and Saturday.

The latest figures from the Gardai show 331 people lost their lives in the same period last year. So far this year, road crashes have claimed the lives of 153 drivers, 83 passengers, 53 pedestrians and 10 cyclists.

Brian Farrell, spokesman for the National Safety Council, urged drivers to take extra care in the run up to Christmas.

“The death toll is up 21 on last year and the total number of fatalities for November is 27,” he said.

“The weekend’s deaths can only be described as an appalling loss of life. But for every one killed there are about eight people seriously injured, for many of them life will never be the same again.

“After the weekend nine families will be missing a loved one around the Christmas table this year. Everyone needs to remember using the roads is the most dangerous thing we do each day and everyone needs to be aware of the risks.”