Radical action needed to end road carnage

THE carnage on our roads must be ended, but that can’t happen without a consistent policy.

We must tackle the contributory factors such as the condition of our roads, the competence and qualifications of drivers, the adequacy of road safety legislation and the degree of which the rules of the road are enforced.

Erratic adult drivers and boy racers are still being left in charge of a lethal weapon.

They gamble not just with their own lives but those of every road-user. And it is not just those people who need to take note. The onus is on all of us to help stop the slaughter.

On both sides of the border, the RUC and gardaí have been warning of the penalties for breaking the rules of the road. But what happens if a garda takes a prosecution against someone from Northern Ireland driving in the Republic? Where does the case go once that person returns to the North? There is no prosecution because a person can’t be extradited for a traffic offence.

The introduction of a penalty points system on both sides of the border would ensure that northerners driving dangerously in this jurisdiction would be given penalty points in the North, and vice versa.

When self-regulation fails, and the combination of moral pressure and public education on road safety has done too little to change the attitudes of drivers voluntarily, then it is time for radical change.

Cllr Noel Collins

‘St Judes’

Midleton

Co Cork