RSA's Vision Zero campaign aims to cut road deaths to zero by 2050

(Left to right): Jane Humphries, Chief Superintendent of Garda National Roads Policing Bureau; Donna Price, Founder Irish Road Victims Association and RSA Board member; Sam Waide, CEO, RSA; and Liz O’Donnell, Chairperson of the RSA at the launch of the “Who was Mary Ward? Vision Zero” campaign Picture: Keith Arkins

The mother of a teenager killed while driving his car to college has said the call from gardaí about his death was “earth-shattering” and one that no parent ever wants to receive.

Darren Price, 18, died after his car collided with an HGV on March 30, 2006, while he was travelling from his home in Mullingar to Athlone where he was studying engineering at the time. The teenager, who was an inter-county footballer, was pronounced dead at the scene.

His mother Donna Price went on to become the founder and chair of the Irish Road Victim’s Association. She was speaking on Tuesday at the unveiling of the Road Safety Authority’s Vision Zero Campaign which is aiming to bring road deaths in Ireland to zero by 2050.

The first person in the world to be killed in an automobile incident was Irish. Mary Ward from Birr, Co. Offaly, died in 1869.

Vision Zero, a worldwide commitment, is being launched as the death toll on the country’s roads so far this year has reached 130, including 30 young people.

“Darren was killed in that crash through no fault of his own,” Ms Price said. “The impact speed was 90km per hour and you cannot survive that. It is an earth-shattering call for any parent to receive. It’s the finality of it all. It was so difficult to bear.

“We have been spurred on to try to spare other families the utter devastation of such a loss.”

Launching a new road advert voiced by actress Charlene McKenna for Vision Zero, Liz O’Donnell, chairperson of the RSA said: “It’s a very ambitious target that we want to achieve, no road deaths by 2050, but with a change in people’s behaviours and government initiatives we believe it is possible.

“The Road Safety Act is very comprehensive, but the minister needs to change the law to bring road speed limits down and that’s going to take us into next year to do that."

Ms O’Donnell said garda visibility is also an issue. The road policing unit currently has 664 gardaí — down 17% in 10 years.

“We would love to see more gardaí,” she continued. “We appreciate there are different calls on the gardaí to police the streets — other wider criminality issues. We also have a commitment for more technology which is also a deterrent and that has increased by 20%."

The latest figures from gardaí show the number of safety camera zones nationwide is 1,373. However, concerns have been raised that this does not detect impaired driving.

“Drug- and drink-driving mandatory testing only came in in December,” said Ms. O’Donnell. “If you are stopped and test positive you are off the road. People need to think about that.

“One in three (drivers) are using drugs — that is very serious."

She said August was "a disaster". "We lost 30 young people. There has been overwhelming grief around the country to that."

Jane Humphries, chief superintendent from the National Roads Policing Bureau said the number of gardaí in the unit does not reflect the overall figures.

“It’s not just the dedicated road policing unit that do enforcement. The vast majority is done by regular members, any garda can be involved in road policing."