Irish roads unsafe due to 'deterioration' in driver behaviour, warns RSA

The RSA’s appearance before PAC comes against the backdrop of a surge in fatalities and serious injuries on Irish roads in the last two years.

Irish roads are unsafe because of an “unprecedented deterioriation of behaviours”, the Road Safety Authority boss has said amid questions about the rising death toll.

RSA chief executive Sam Waide told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that he “lives and breathes” road safety but he cannot make other agencies, such as gardaí, do things that are outside “of our statutory remit”.

Mr Waide said there is “frustration” at the pace of increased enforcement on the roads from gardaí, but added that enforcement is not just the responsibility of gardaí. He also called for increased access to technology such as roadside safety cameras.

“My ask to gardaí is that increased enforcement is sustained going forward into the next three years,” he said.

The RSA’s appearance before PAC comes against the backdrop of a surge in fatalities and serious injuries on Irish roads in the last two years.

The committee heard that drink driving is becoming “more normalised” among other dangerous behaviours on the roads.

So far this year, 92 people have died on Irish roads including two teenagers in Waterford in the early hours of Thursday. This figure is an 11% rise on the same time last year.

Mr Waide said that collective action is needed from the RSA and all relevant parties to reverse these worrying trends.

'Conflict of interest'

Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon put it to the RSA that part of its current remit, including driving tests and NCTs, is at odds with its road safety remit.

“Do you not see a huge conflict of interest here?” he asked. 

“Is it not the case that the more drivers we have on our roads, the more cars we have on our roads, the more income that accrues to the very authority that is responsible for maintaining safety on our roads?” 

The RSA boss said the behaviour of drivers on the roads is behind the increasing danger, but the number of vehicles on the roads is “outside of [his] control”.

Mr Cannon said the “raison d’etre” of the RSA should be questioned and that these other responsibilities be divested from the body so it can focus on road safety.

The Fine Gael TD claimed that the RSA was “never going to be able to get to the heart of what needs to happen in terms of road safety in this country”, and called for a different entity “whose sole focus is making Irish roads safer”.

Mr Waide said he advocates for the RSA to have a role within road safety different than it is currently but he “cannot pre-empt an independent review of the RSA”.

An independent review is being conducted currently, and “preliminary findings” from Indecon economic consultants have been furnished to the Department of Transport in recent days, the PAC heard. 

This will be brought to Government before the report is finalised.

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Elsewhere, the RSA said it was examining mechanisms to ensure that learner drivers who don’t show up for tests, but then renew their learner permit, can be identified and “repeat offenders” can be targeted.

Mr Waide also confirmed that following talks with the Data Protection Commission, new laws would be progressed to ensure that collision data could be shared with local authorities so that action could be taken on the ground.

Department officials, however, could not provide a clear timeline for this legislation but the PAC heard it will happen “in due course”.