Irish drivers much less compliant with rules of the road since covid-19 lockdowns, survey finds

The Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána are appealing to the public to use the roads with care over the St Patrick’s bank holiday weekend. Pictures: Keth Arkins Media 

Ireland underwent a “big societal shift” away from compliance with the rules of the road during covid-19, with speeding now a "more universally accepted behaviour” than it was before, the Road Safety Authority has said.

Launching their St Patrick’s weekend road safety appeal, the RSA and gardaí urged road users to take care and stay safe after two more people died on Irish roads, bringing the total so far this year to 42. This is three more deaths than at the same time last year.

To coincide with the appeal, the RSA published results of a survey which found one in 10 people have reported driving after drinking alcohol in the last 12 months.

Meanwhile, one in four motorists say driving short distances after having a drink is acceptable, while a similar proportion admitted they have been over the limit when driving the morning after a night out.

RSA director of partnerships and external affairs Sarah O’Connor said there was a substantial move away from normal driving behaviour during the pandemic which was not as noticeable at the time due to the lack of traffic on the roads.

“What we’ve seen since then is that maybe over that 18-month period afterwards, people did correct their behaviour but not to their previous levels of compliance,” she said.

People are speeding more, they’re going at higher speeds that’s a more universally accepted behaviour. More people are driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Ms O’Connor said they had seen a significant number of young people die on our roads over the past few years, which is a major area of concern, as well as pedestrian fatalities.

Chief Superintendent Jane Humphries and Sarah O’Connor, director of partnerships and external affairs with the RSA at the launch of the St Patrick’s weekend road safety appeal.

While the RSA has used graphic adverts in the past, it is moving away from these somewhat given the younger male demographic it is particularly trying to target with some of its road safety message.

“Even though people, for example, think that an ad that is quite gory or violent... those have obviously historically had an impact on people,” Ms O’Connor said.

“But the research now says, for younger men, they're very used to violence in movies. They may be very used to violence in gaming, and that it does not have the shock factor for them. So, we may perceive it as being shocking, but it does not land as shock with that particular age cohort. We cannot expect that to work.” 

She said that is the reason the RSA has to push “different buttons” with its messaging to try to reach the audience that needs to hear these messages. However, she did say RSA advertising would continue to feature witness testimony from road crashes, as these can be “phenomenally powerful”.

Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Jane Humphries of the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau said she hoped the numbers in the Garda road traffic division stays “stable” this year after consistently falling over the last number of years. 

She added it was “not as simple” as having more gardaí on the road translating to fewer fatalities.

My key message is simple. Keep yourself safe, keep your eyes on the road, slow down. Do not drive with drugs or alcohol in your system.

This appeal came after two more road deaths took place on Wednesday. 

An 18-year-old man was killed after he crashed his motorcyle at Clonkeen near Castlebar in Mayo. 

Hours later, a man in his 40s died after a two-car collision on the M4 Westbound in Kilcock.