Be responsible and stay safe - Deaths on our roads

ONE of the most challenging aspects of trying to embed a culture of safe driving in everyone who uses our roads is that the campaign is by necessity relentless. 

Indeed, it sometimes seems so persistent, so neverending that we sometimes pay less attention than we should do to the stay-safe, take-it-easy messages.

Then a day like yesterday comes along and the message is resharpened in the most dramatic and tragic way.

Five people died on our roads yesterday bringing the total for lives lost on our roads so far this year to just under 120.

Two of those who died were American tourists in their 60s. They died in a crash near Blarney, Co Cork. The other three people — including one child — died in a crash on the N17 near Claremorris, Co Mayo. Both fatal crashes occurred at road junctions. The circumstances of these tragedies have yet to be definitively established.

Despite that, especially as the darkening winter evenings draw in, we all know that by following pretty basic rules we can dramatically reduce the risk of being involved in a crash or worse again, causing one.

The level of policing, or the absence of policing, always has a significant impact on road safety and it does seem that we need to make up lost ground in this area. Despite that, as in every area of life, accepting personal responsibility for your behaviour is by far the best way to stay safe.