Drivers warned over roads death toll
Irish drivers cause twice as many road deaths as some other EU countries, it emerged today.
But the 430,000 plus learner drivers on are not the main cause for the escalating toll of fatalities.
The Road Safety Authority said in Ireland 10 people per 100,000 population are killed on our roads, compared to five in 100,000 in other countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.
So far this year, 254 people have been killed in 222 collisions.
“The most at risk drivers are 16 to 24-year-old men, but there is no evidence that says people on provisional licences are more at risk of being involved in deaths and serious injuries on Irish roads,” said Noel Brett, of the Road Safety Authority.
“We do know though, beyond doubt, that inexperienced drivers – including those on provisional licences and those people who have passed their test in the last two to three years – are the cohort of people who are most at risk of being involved in a collision on Irish roads that leads to a death or a serious injury.”
Last year a record one in six drivers – 404,600 people – were on provisional licences.
Latest government statistics revealed that almost half of L-drivers (48.5%) failed the test on the first attempt, while a staggering 43% failed on subsequent attempts.
The figures from the Irish Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics also found that even if current testers – and the new NCT private company testers - carry out extra examinations over the next 18 months, the backlog will still not be cleared for many years.
The Road Safety Authority, which takes over responsibility of the entire driving testing service from the Department of Transport in September, said it is unacceptable that more than 400,000 people are driving around on a provision licence.
It plans to deliver 40,000 private sector tests, with existing testers doing an additional 40,000 tests on overtime, weekends, and evenings.
Mr Brett said that until the backlog is cleared, it is difficult to rigorously enforce restrictions on a provisional licence.
“We need to get the wait for a driving test down to six weeks or under. That’s going to take some time, but clearly it has got to be done,” continued Mr Brett.
“It’s bizarre that you can turn up for a driving test, fail that test, be deemed incompetent to drive, and just drive away. That situation just cannot continue.
“It is also ironic the amount of people who turn up for a driving test in this country having taken no tuition whatsoever.
“There is a need in this country for people to use driving instructors to prepare not just to pass a test but to prepare to drive safely for life.”
IMPACT today denied reports that thousands of tests have been cancelled due to testers taking sick leave.
The union which represents examiners said 8,000 tests were cancelled this year because candidates either did not show up or arrived in cars that were not roadworthy, with relatively few people turned away from testing centres because of sick leave.
It also claimed that testers conducted 25,000 extra driving tests during the evenings and weekends in the first half of 2006 in an effort to reduce waiting times.
“Driving testers have done everything asked of them, as well as putting forward their own proposals to cut waiting times,” said IMPACT official Tom Hoare. “The simple fact is that demand is growing and this is likely to continue because of Ireland’s changing demographics.”
Labour’s Roisin Shorthall demanded the Government eliminate the driving test backlog within two years through the employment of additional testers, upgrading the IT system, dealing with cancellations and changing work practices.
The party’s transport spokesperson also called for new regulations to prohibit provisional licence holders from driving alone.
Sinn Fein Transport spokesperson Sean Crowe claimed the delay in clearing the backlog of people waiting to sit their driving test is having a direct impact on areas of disadvantage and high unemployment.
“A lot of these areas are badly serviced by public transport and some actually have no public transport services,” he said. “The waiting time for a driving test is making it impossible for many people to afford to insure their cars.”
